The Gurugram police busted a cyber-fraud gang for an investment scam of over Rs 2.65 crore and arrested six accused for supplying bank accounts to a Dubai-based syndicate.
The accused allegedly opened and supplied bank accounts to a Dubai-based cyber fraud syndicate through fake firms.
The police have seized three laptops, 16 mobile phones, 90 ATM cards, 42 cheque books, 35 SIM cards, stamps of four firms, and one passport with a Dubai visa from the accused.
According to the police, on Sunday, a complaint was received at the Cyber Crime Police Station (East), in which the complainant stated that he had been added to fake WhatsApp groups impersonating reputed investment companies. The fraudsters lured him into investing through a fake investment application by promising exceptionally high returns. Believing the scheme to be genuine, the complainant transferred a total of Rs 26,555,000 to various bank accounts. When he later attempted to withdraw his invested amount and the promised profits, the accused demanded additional deposits, at which point he realised he had been cheated.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered and the investigation was subsequently entrusted to the Special Cyber Crime Unit, Sector-56. Under the supervision of Gaurav Fogat, ACP crime, the Special Cyber Crime Unit conducted a detailed investigation using technical evidence and intelligence, leading to the arrest of six accused.
The arrested accused were identified as Sonu Chaudhary (23), resident of Village Bhikkanpur, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; presently residing at Balaji Enclave, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Puneet Chaudhary (27), resident of Village Bhikkanpur, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; presently residing at Omaxe City, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, Haryana, Vikas (22), resident of Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh; presently residing at Omaxe City, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, Haryana, Abhishek Sharma (23), resident of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh; presently residing at Omaxe City, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, Haryana, Dushyant Chaudhary (25), resident of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh; presently residing at Omaxe City, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, Haryana and Samrat Sibbal (46), resident of Uttam Nagar, Delhi.
The police first arrested Sonu Chaudhary from Ghaziabad and subsequently Puneet Chaudhary, Vikas, Abhishek Sharma, and Dushyant Chaudhary were arrested on Sunday from a rented flat in Omaxe City, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar. Samrat Sibbal was arrested the same day from Uttam Nagar, Delhi.
During interrogation, investigators found that approximately Rs 600,000 of the defrauded amount had been transferred to the bank account of a private firm operated by Sonu Chaudhary. Sonu disclosed that he had opened the firm’s bank account at the request of Puneet Chaudhary and handed it over to him in exchange for Rs 60,000.
“Accused Puneet revealed that he, along with Samrat Sibbal, was working for a Dubai-based cyber fraud syndicate. The bank account was allegedly supplied to the syndicate, which used such accounts to receive proceeds of cyber fraud. Around 5 per cent commission was earned by routing the stolen funds through multiple bank accounts. Puneet had rented a flat in Bahadurgarh for Rs 17,000 per month, which was allegedly used as an operational hub for registering fake firms, opening bank accounts in the names of various individuals and entities, creating fake email IDs, and preparing forged documents used in cyber fraud operations,” said Gaurav Fogat, ACP crime.