12 cyber fraud suspects held in Delhi after 24-hour crackdown

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Twelve alleged cyber criminals were arrested and six FIRs registered after Delhi Police in the west district carried out a 24-hour operation targeting ATM withdrawal hotspots used by cyber fraudsters, an officer said on Tuesday.

The operation focused on dismantling networks that allegedly used mule bank accounts to receive proceeds of cyber fraud before withdrawing the money from ATMs across the city, he said.

Investigators analysed withdrawal patterns, 68 suspected mule bank accounts, more than 100 CCTV footage from ATMs and nearby locations, call detail records, bank account statements and money trails to identify those involved in the racket.

Police said over 100 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting

Portal (NCRP) were found linked to the identified accounts, involving cheated amounts running into lakhs of rupees.

Based on the analysis, simultaneous raids were conducted at multiple locations, leading to the arrest of 12 accused allegedly working as mule account providers, account aggregators, commission agents, cash handlers and operators of fraudulent call centres.

“The operation resulted in six separate breakthroughs, including arrests linked to scholarship fraud, fake loan fraud, investment fraud, job fraud and a multi-crore digital arrest scam connected to Bengaluru,” the officer said.

Among the recoveries were 20 mobile phones, 14 SIM cards, two cheque books, three computer systems, a router, a scooter, four rubber stamps and multiple ATM cards, debit cards, passbooks and other banking documents.

According to the police, the accused facilitated the routing, layering and withdrawal of money allegedly cheated from victims in different states through mule bank accounts before distributing the proceeds among members of the syndicates. Further investigation is underway. PTI BM BM MDO MDO