Delhi Police nabs two from Rajasthan for providing mule accounts to cyber scammers

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) The Delhi Police has arrested two persons allegedly linked with a cyber fraud syndicate that cheated a city resident of Rs 49,000 through an online job scam, an official said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Hitesh Kumar (19) and Nitesh Mehla (23), were arrested from Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district after investigation found that the duo played a key role in providing mule bank accounts used to route proceeds of cyber fraud, the official added.

A case was registered on October 24 after one Anand Goyal of Gandhi Nagar reported that he had been duped through a part-time online job offer that initially involved subscribing to YouTube channels, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said in an official statement.

After receiving small rewards for trial tasks, he was induced to pay amounts in advance for commission-based tasks with a false promise of a 30 per cent return within minutes.

He initially transferred Rs 7,000, and then Rs 42,000 to the scammers, who later demanded another Rs 1.2 lakh. When he refused, they stopped responding, police said.

Analysis of bank and social media details found that Rs 42,000 of the cheated amount had been transferred to a bank account belonging to Hitesh Kumar, police said, adding that he was subsequently held from Jhunjhunu.

The accused revealed he had opened the account on instructions of Nitesh Mehla in exchange for money.

Mehla, also arrested from Jhunjhunu, allegedly operated multiple bank accounts and provided them to cyber fraud handlers in return for a commission, police said.

Both their mobile phones were seized and chats recovered from the devices confirmed their involvement, they added.

According to investigators, the duo lured unemployed youths to open multiple bank accounts by promising commissions and later handed them over to scammers operating through encrypted platforms.

These accounts were then used to receive, circulate and layer funds obtained through various online scams, including task-based frauds and cryptocurrency schemes.

Police said further investigation is underway to identify other members of the syndicate. PTI SSJ ARB ARB