Call centre in Cambodia, 30 mule accounts, over Rs 10 crore siphoned off: Chhattisgarh arm of cybercrime syndicate busted
The money made from duping the victims in this manner is transferred to mule accounts in India, police said.
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The matter came to light on January 23, when one Rupesh Sahu approached police alleging that his bank account had been frozen after his acquaintance, Ashutosh Sharma, allegedly used it to receive Rs 7 lakh, which turned out to be money stolen in cybercrime. (File)
The Chhattisgarh Police uncovered an international cybercrime syndicate when officers arrested four Rajnandgaon men, who allegedly worked as part of a gang that operated out of Cambodia and siphoned off crores looted from Indians over the last two years.
The four men were identified as Shrenik Sanghvi, 24, arrested last week from Valsad in Gujarat, and his aides Ashutosh Sharma, Shubham Tiwari (26) and Deepak Naredi (27), all from Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh.
Police said that the main accused, Singhvi, visited Cambodia last year, where he met his handlers, who run a call centre to defraud Indians through various cybercrimes such as matrimonial frauds, fake jobs racket, and fake investment companies. While those working in the call centre are Indians, the owners are Chinese nationals, police said.
The money made from duping the victims in this manner is transferred to mule accounts in India, police said.
Sanghvi not only allegedly provided these mule accounts to the international gang but also siphoned off crores of rupees from these mule accounts to the gang by way of crypto-currency with the help of hawala operators. He is said to have used at least over 30 mule accounts, which he “bought” from other accused, like Sharma, Tiwari and Naredi, who deal in mule accounts, police said.
Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told The Indian Express, “Sanghvi’s commission used to be around 7-9% of the money received in the mule accounts and he siphoned off the remaining amount to his handlers in Cambodia. He used to withdraw the ill-gotten money from ATMs or by signed cheques soon after a cyber-crime takes place, so it makes it difficult for the police to recover the money.”
Another official said, “So far, we have learnt that over Rs 10 crore has been siphoned off to Cambodia through 300 crypto-wallets over a period of two years, and we believe the money involved is much larger.”
The matter came to light on January 23, when one Rupesh Sahu approached police alleging that his bank account had been frozen after his acquaintance, Ashutosh Sharma, allegedly used it to receive Rs 7 lakh, which turned out to be money stolen in cybercrime.
Sharma was apprehended and police learnt about Sanghvi from him. Like Sanghvi, there are several other agents in India working for the Cambodia-based syndicate and several individuals who provide mule accounts at a specific cost to agents like Sanghvi, police said. These agents have a country-wide network formed through chat groups on Telegram.
These mule accounts are used not only to siphon money made through cybercrimes but also through online gambling apps, including the Mahadev app, which is presently under investigation by the CBI and ED.
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