Inside UP’s Jamtara: How Devras Became State’s Biggest Online Fraud Hub

Until a few years ago, Devras was just another agrarian village on the edge of Uttar Pradesh, known for wheat fields, cattle sheds, and seasonal migration for labour. Today, it carries a far darker label

— UP’s Jamtara. A massive police crackdown earlier this month exposed how the village evolved into one of the state’s largest cyber fraud hubs, allegedly cheating people across India of more than Rs 2 crore in just 30 days. The operation, carried out on December 11, brought Devras under intense scrutiny after investigators uncovered a sprawling network of online scammers operating from homes, fields, and makeshift huts. In a single coordinated raid involving nearly 400 police personnel, 37 suspected cyber fraudsters were detained, while around 120 others managed to flee across the Rajasthan and Haryana borders before the police could seal all exit routes. Senior police officers say the scale, organisation, and geographic advantage of Devras prompted officials to refer to it as UP’s Jamtara — a reference to the infamous cyber fraud hotspot in Jharkhand.

The raid that exposed the network

According to police records, the raid was the culmination of weeks of electronic surveillance and human intelligence inputs. Teams from the Crime Branch, Cyber Cell, STF, and local police converged on Devras and neighbouring villages before dawn to prevent suspects from escaping.
To avoid detection, police vehicles were parked outside the village, and teams moved in on foot through fields and narrow dirt paths. Drones were deployed to scan agricultural land, leading to the discovery of at least 27 concealed locations, where mobile phones, SIM cards, and digital devices were buried under soil or hidden inside temporary huts.
“The suspects were not operating only from houses. Many were working from the fields, using small huts as cyber fraud centres,” a senior officer involved in the operation said.
The raid continued for nearly 12 hours, during which more responsiveness than 300 houses were searched. Police seized dozens of mobile phones, SIM cards, fake Aadhaar cards, banking documents, laptops, and motorcycles. Several phones contained direct evidence of phishing attempts, hacked payment apps, and transaction trails.

Rs 2-crore fraud in 30 days

Interrogation of those detained revealed the staggering speed at which money was siphoned off. Investigators claim the group cheated over 200 victims nationwide, extracting more than Rs 2 crore within a month using phishing links, fake KYC updates, impersonation calls, and hacked payment platforms.
“The fraudsters would manipulate phone numbers on apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm to extract personal details. Once trust was built, malicious links were sent to gain full control of the victim’s phone,” an officer explained.
Police said many suspects were barely educated, with some having studied only up to Class 5 or 8, yet they displayed high operational efficiency due to informal training networks within the village.

How Devras became UP’s biggest online fraud hub

Devras’s transformation into Uttar Pradesh’s biggest cyber fraud hub was gradual, driven by geography, technology, and weak early enforcement. Located barely five kilometres from the Rajasthan border and about 15 kilometres from Haryana, the village sits at a strategic tri-junction that allows quick escape across state lines. This geography made sustained policing difficult and encouraged risk-taking among offenders.
As smartphones, cheap SIM cards, and digital payment apps became widespread, a section of Devras’s youth — many with education limited to Class 5 or 8 — found cyber fraud to be a low-investment, high-return alternative to farming or daily wage labour. Informal training networks emerged within the village, passing on techniques such as phishing, fake KYC updates, impersonation calls, and payment-app hacking.
Operations shifted beyond homes into fields, where makeshift huts were used as fraud centres, making detection harder. Women and children allegedly acted as lookouts, while money was routed into accounts and properties held in relatives’ names, often across borders.
For years, fear and social pressure prevented locals from reporting the activity. By the time law enforcement acted decisively, Devras had already evolved into a tightly knit cybercrime ecosystem — earning it the label officials now use: UP’s Jamtara.
“When raids happen, suspects simply cross the border. Jurisdictional limitations slow down immediate pursuit,” a police official said.
Investigators also suspect that proceeds of crime were invested outside Uttar Pradesh, often in the names of relatives. “Properties, businesses, dairy units, and brick kilns in Rajasthan and Haryana are allegedly linked to the money trail,” the officer added.
While police action has been welcomed by many residents, the social cost has been immense. Long-time villagers say Devras has paid a heavy price for the actions of a section of its youth. “In the last 15-18 years, nearly 200 Hindu families have left this village,” said Dau Dayal Kaushik, 57, a local resident. “People don’t want to marry their daughters here anymore. The village’s name itself scares them.”
Others admit that fear of retaliation earlier prevented resistance. “Those involved had money and muscle. Anyone who spoke up was threatened,” said a shopkeeper who did not wish to be named.
However, several residents across communities insist that not everyone is involved in cyber fraud.
“Those who were doing fraud have run away. People like us are farmers,” said Maqsood, a villager. “Panchayats are being held every day now. Everyone is suffering because of a few.”
The intensive search operation has also left families in distress. Mothers and wives of detained youths insist their relatives are innocent or marginally involved.
“My sons work hard. I don’t know anything about fraud,” said a woman whose three sons were picked up during the raid. “If they are guilty, punish them. But don’t destroy families without proof.”
Police maintain that detentions were based on digital evidence and call data records, and further scrutiny is underway to separate primary operators from peripheral links.

‘Operation will continue’

Mathura SSP Shlok Kumar said the operation would not stop until cyber fraud is dismantled at the roots. “Cyber criminals depend entirely on mobile phones and internet access. We are monitoring both closely. Fraud from this location has been halted for now, and more arrests will follow,” he said.
Officials confirmed that data of 124 additional suspects has been compiled and shared with neighbouring states to track those who escaped.