Five arrested as Delhi Police busts cyber fraud rackets; Rs 24 crore money trail unearthed

New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) The Delhi Police has busted two online investment rackets and arrested five men who allegedly made victims install fake applications on the promise to make high returns, an official said on Friday.

The rackets operated through fake groups and bogus trading applications, cheating victims of crores of rupees, they said, adding that a money trail of around Rs 24 crore has been unearthed so far.

In the first case, the complainant was allegedly cheated of Rs 31.45 lakh after being lured into a group and persuaded to install a fraudulent investment application named 'Cventura', Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said.

The victim was induced to transfer money into six different bank accounts on the promise of high returns. However, after he demanded profits, the group disappeared and the application became non-functional, they said.

A case was registered and during the probe, the police found out that the amount cheated was routed through multiple mule bank accounts to layer and siphon off the funds. Based on technical surveillance and bank account analysis, raids were conducted in Ludhiana and Khanna in Punjab, leading to the arrest of Rajiv (33) from Rupnagar and Monu Kumar (27) from Ludhiana.

Rajiv was found to be a mule account holder, with around Rs 6.45 lakh from the case credited to his account. Police said transactions exceeding Rs 1 crore were detected in his account before it was deactivated.

Monu Kumar allegedly acted as a facilitator, luring people to open bank accounts and selling them to cyber fraudsters in return for commission, Gautam added.

In the second case, the complainant joined a group named 'VIP 10 Stock Sharing Group' in July and was induced to invest through another fake application called 'Verger', the police said.

The victim transferred Rs 47.15 lakh through multiple transactions into nine different bank accounts before the group and application were abruptly shut down, they said.

During the investigation, police conducted raids in Hisar and Panchkula in Haryana and arrested Mohit, who allegedly opened a bank account in his wife's name and handed over the account details to his associate.

Further raids led to the arrest of Balwan from Churu in Rajasthan and Rajbir Singh, whose account was also used to route the cheated money, the police said.

Investigators found that transactions of around Rs 3 crore and Rs 20 crore were conducted through the accounts of Mohit and Rajbir, respectively, within a short span, indicating large-scale money laundering, they added.

The investigation has revealed a well-organised cyber fraud network operating across multiple states using fake investment groups, bogus mobile applications and layered mule accounts opened through local agents on commission, the police said.

Several mobile phones, SIM cards, ATM cards, cheque books and bank documents have been seized, and efforts are underway to trace the end beneficiaries, identify more victims and arrest absconding accused, they added. PTI SSJ APL