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The Gautam Buddha Nagar police raided a building and arrested 16 people Tuesday in connection with an online gaming fraud operated from Dubai which is believed to have spread to different parts of India.
The police said the accused, who hailed from Jhansi, Hamirpur, Lucknow, had rented the three-storey building in Noida Sector-108 to operate the fraud. They used to park their vehicle on the ground floor; the first floor was always vacant, the second floor was their place of stay and the third floor was the place from where the whole scam was being operated. The accused locked the main gate while going out and coming inside the building, so the local people thought that no one lived in the building.
“They used to commit the fraud through Mahadeva App, which is available on Google Play Store and social media platforms. First, they used to get their apps downloaded (on the users’ phones), then offered small deals, like a return of Rs 600 for Rs 500 etc. In this way, they successfully got the victims to bet larger amounts in lakhs of rupees, and after receiving the amount, they used to switch off their phones. This is a huge fraud and we are developing a proper trail and chain.” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Harish Chander.
“The accused used around 15-16 saving bank accounts and 12-14 current accounts. They used to ask for money in their savings account, transfer it to the current account and then siphon it off. We are investigating who received the money and where it was spent. As of now, we have frozen around Rs 1.5 crore. Apart from these 16 people, there are nine others; among them, one Sachin Soni is the head.”
The officer said a person named Saurabh Chandraker was the gang’s mastermind. He said Chandraker used to give directions to Sachin, and the other eight people used to operate in different locations in India successfully.
“Some of them visited countries like Nepal, Hong Kong, and Thailand and got training from Dubai. We are investigating what type of training they received. This fraud has been going on for the last one-and-a-half months,” said DCP Chander.
The police recovered 12 laptops, 73 smartphones, six passbooks, 19 cheque books, 58 ATM cards, 58 sim cards, six passports, 60 identity cards (Aadhaar/Pan Card), two four-wheelers and two scooters. They said in the last two months, Rs 405 crore was transferred from 26 fake accounts in 10 banks to other bank accounts.
The police said this gaming scam is active in 11 other countries, like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Srilanka. They registered a case under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act at the Sector-39 police station of Noida.
Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh announced a reward of Rs 50,000 to the team.
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