New Delhi: With the arrest of four men, the Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have busted a gang of cyber crooks for cheating over 500 people on the pretext of ‘online trading’ on a huge margin across the country.
The official said that the gang members had Chinese accomplices operating from Dubai.
The accused were identified as Sanjay Dabas (26), a resident of Sultanpur Dabas, Farhan Ansari (30), a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, Pankaj Wadhwa (38), a resident of Rohini and Monu alias Manoj Kumar Sharma (42), a resident of Vasant Kunj.
The official said that Pankaj is the partner of Bhupesh Arora, who is the mastermind of this racket and is currently in Dubai.
According to the police, in February this year a woman in her complaint reported that she was searching for a job online on February 28 when she received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number.
“The message had an offer of paying Rs 50 per like for the link of social media accounts sent to her through WhatsApp. She opened the various links sent by the caller and liked them. She sent the screen shot to the sender named Xarina,” said Sanjay Kumar Sain, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central).
Xarina asked her to open a telegram link to receive the credited amount.
“She joined the Telegram channel and Rs 150 was credited in her bank account. Xarina then instructed her to join another Telegram channel and like some YouTube videos, which she completed and received Rs 200 in return,” said the DCP.
Later, Xarina convinced her to invest in crypto currency with the promise of significant profits. The woman initially invested Rs 1000, and Xarina lured her with the prospect of even more profit. However, the woman ended up losing around Rs 22 lakhs in a single day and has asked for legal action against Xarina for her actions.
During investigation, details of the bank account where the amount was deposited were collected by the police.
“Upon analyzing the statement of the bank accounts, it was found that there were many transactions in that account which raised suspicion that he could have cheated other people too,” said the DCP.
It was also revealed that various current bank accounts were opened in different parts of India to credit the cheated money.
“The single bank account had transactions of Rs one crore in a single day. The current bank accounts were opened by creating fake documents of fake companies. The credited money was immediately further transferred to various other bank accounts,” said the official.
The Police found a single address in Netaji Subhash Place, Delhi, which was used to open more than 10 Current Account in the name of fake companies.
“The landlord was questioned and it was revealed that the said premises was given on rent to one Sanjay Dabas following which he was apprehended from his village. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime. At his instance another accused Farhan Ansari was apprehended from Mahipalpur,” said the official.
On interrogation the accused revealed that about two years ago they came in contact with Pankaj Wadhwa, who was involved in online cheating.
“They were lured by him to arrange current bank accounts under different names. To facilitate this, Dabas rented an office in Netaji Subhash Place while Ansari recruited people to open bank accounts,” said the official.
The accused also forged company documents to create fake accounts. “Once the accounts were set up, they passed on the bank details to Wadhwa,” said the official, adding that Wadhwa and his partner Bhupesh Arora were connected to some Chinese operating from Dubai.
In March 2022, Arora shifted to Dubai as there were various complaints against him across the country.
“At the instance of the arrested accused, Monu was also nabbed,” said the official.
The official said that Dabas and Farhan Ansari had visited Dubai three times since November 2022 to meet Arora and their associates.
“A further probe is underway to unearth the number of crimes they have committed so far,” the official added.
–IANS