How scammers used ancient banking system to move Rs 7 lakh stolen from Delhi woman

A complaint was lodged.

As police probed the cyber fraud case in the months that followed, they made a startling discovery. Fraudsters were using a new way to move the cheated money — the age-old Angadia system.

The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders and jewellers, who find banks too slow or too scrutinised, send cash and valuables generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia that stands for courier.

Inspector Vikas Buldak and his team at the West District’s Cyber Police Station began with the only solid lead in such cases: the money trail.

Police found that the Rs 7 lakh had been split between multiple types of accounts. While 30% flowed to a Muthoot Gold Loan account in Jharkhand, the remaining 70% landed in an SBI account in Surendranagar, a city in Gujarat known for its dairy farms.

“After that, the trail went cold. The money was nowhere to be found in the system. No transfers, no crypto conversion, none of the usual digital fraud patterns,” a police officer said.

Eventually, it was the Gujarat account that provided a breakthrough. CCTV footage from the bank branch showed a man withdrawing the funds by self-cheque — his face was caught on the camera. The man was identified as Soyebbhai Multani, 24, a tractor salesman, police said.

“CCTV footage from the bank branch confirmed that one of the accused withdrew the cheated amount through cheque. Subsequent raids were conducted in Jharkhand and Gujarat,” DCP Bhaskar said.

But the real discovery came next, police said. The withdrawn cash hadn’t been deposited into another bank account or converted to cryptocurrency. Instead, it had been handed over to an Angadia.

“Angadias usually are part of the informal economy, and carry lakhs of rupees with them. They come from families who are traditionally involved in the same business and, hence, are trusted by local traders who want to avoid formal banking scrutiny,” a police officer said.

The investigation led Inspector Buldak’s team to multiple states. Jharkhand first — Deoghar and Jamtara — and then Gujarat, where Soyebbhai and his brother operated.

Police claimed Soyebbhai and his brother, Aslambhai Multani (37), who ran a dairy farm in Surendranagar, were engaged in illegal activities on the side. They allegedly provided “mule accounts”, which are bank accounts opened in their names but controlled by scamsters to receive and quickly withdraw stolen funds.
For this service, they received a 2-4% commission on each transaction. For Debjani’s Rs 7 lakh alone, police said, their commission was to be Rs 14,000 to Rs 28,000, police said.

The duo was arrested earlier this week, police said.

Police said another accused, Jitender Kumar from Jharkhand, had also been arrested this week. Police recovered three mobile phones and five SIM cards from their possession.

During the probe, investigators found that the accused were linked to 14 similar complaints registered on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ cybercrime portal, spanning multiple states. The same modus operandi — mule accounts, Angadia networks — had been used, a police officer said.

“Further analysis and technical investigation led to the identification and arrest of the accused persons involved in arranging mule accounts, withdrawing funds, and transferring them via an Angadia for a commission,” DCP Bhaskar said.

Police, however, are yet to find the money or the Angandia who was transporting it.

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