Bhadohi (UP), Apr 16 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested three youths for allegedly duping people of over Rs 10 crore through a cyber fraud racket that used more than 200 bank accounts opened across multiple states, officials said on Thursday.
The racket surfaced during a probe into a complaint lodged by a street vendor in Gyanpur, Aman Bind, on Wednesday. Bind had alleged misuse of bank accounts opened in his and his sister’s names.
Superintendent of Police Abhinav Tyagi on Thursday said the accused — Anshul Mishra, Kapil Rawat and Mohammad Shoaib — were part of a five-member gang.
Two others, identified as Astitva Verma alias Raunak and Dhruv Pathak, are also under the scanner, the SP said.
According to police, Verma befriended Bind as a customer
and introduced him to the others, who promised to arrange loans under government schemes.
They then got bank accounts opened, collected passbooks, ATM cards and linked mobile details, and retained control.
Investigators found the gang shared account details through WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram groups, circulating APK files to facilitate fraudulent transactions under the guise of shopping and credit services.
Data from four seized Android phones shows links to accounts in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, with fraud pegged at over Rs 10 crore, possibly rising to Rs 50 crore as the probe is going on.
Police said 545 complaints have already been registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCPR) against these accounts.
The accused, aged 19-21, withdrew money via ATMs, petrol pumps and cryptocurrency channels before distributing the proceeds, police added. PTI COR ABN HIG
