Mumbai police bust racket that ‘purchased’ bank accounts to transfer money of cyber fraud victims, 12 held, over 100 SIM cards seized
Mumbai Crime Branch said the scammers siphoned off Rs 60.82 crore from victims in cyber frauds across the country, and the money was moved using the bank accounts provided by this racket.
2 min read
According to the police, the accused would procure ATM cards to quickly withdraw money from ATMs, preventing the victims from blocking the accounts in time. (file photo)The Mumbai police on Friday said it has busted a racket in which the accused allegedly ‘purchased’ bank accounts from individuals for amounts ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000, and they were subsequently used to transfer money obtained through cyber fraud, enabling the perpetrators to evade law enforcement agencies.
The Crime Branch has arrested 12 people, of whom five had sold their bank accounts, while others had set up two companies through which they would purchase these bank accounts and oversee the transfer of illegal money obtained by the cyber fraudsters.
Investigators said that the scammers siphoned off Rs 60.82 crore from victims in cyber frauds across the country, and the money was moved using the bank accounts provided by this racket.
“These fraudsters formed the middle layer that would provide bank accounts to cyber fraudsters operating from outside the country. The money would eventually be converted into cryptocurrency and sent outside the country,” said Raj Tilak Roushan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection).
The police recovered over 100 SIM cards, passbooks, and cheque books, among other articles that they suspected were used to procure these bank accounts.
According to the police, the accused would procure ATM cards to quickly withdraw money from ATMs, preventing the victims from blocking the accounts in time.
Roushan said they received a tip-off indicating that the accused were using two fake companies based in Kandivali to acquire bank accounts for cyber fraud. Accordingly, a team from Unit II of the Mumbai Crime Branch, led by inspectors Ravindra Manjre and Prashant Gawde, raided these companies and arrested five suspects. The accused were identified as Vaibhav Patel, Sunil Paswan, Aman Gautam, Khushbu Sandarajula, and Ritesh Bandekar.
“The accused were interrogated and during the course of our probe, a total of 12 persons were placed under arrest and found that they used 943 bank accounts,” Roushan said.
Several of these accounts had been used in cyber frauds, while the police suspect several others would have been used soon.
“We found that these bank accounts had been used in defrauding people in Maharashtra for Rs 10.57 crore, while Rs 60.82 crore was siphoned off from victims across the country using these accounts,” Roushan added.
You May Like
