Gujarat cops bust gang for cyber crimes involving Rs 719 cr; bank staff among 10 arrested

Ahmedabad, Dec 8 (PTI) The Gujarat police has busted a gang and arrested 10 persons, including bank staff, for their alleged involvement in inter-state and international cyber crimes involving Rs 719 crore, officials said on Monday.

According to Gandhinagar's Cyber Centre of Excellence, the accused were involved in receiving cyber fraud money in mule bank accounts and converting them into cash and crypto currency before sending them to cyber crime syndicate gang members based in Dubai and having connections with Chinese gangs.

"Ten accused, including bank staff, were arrested by Cyber Centre of Excellence for their involvement in inter-state and international cyber crime cases involving Rs 719 crore," stated an official release.

"For their own financial gain, they used to deposit the stolen money of cyber crime victims across India into the mule bank accounts through various modus operandi and send it to the accused of cybercrime syndicate sitting in Dubai/China through cheque withdrawal, online apps, crypto transactions and angadia. Police used technical analysis to trace the cyber fraud," it said.

Police said a total of 1594 cyber frauds were committed by international and inter-state gangs in 26 states and six Union territories, including 300 in Maharashtra, 203 in Tamil Nadu, 194 in Karnataka, 128 in Telangana, 97 in Gujarat, 91 in Kerala, 88 in Uttar Pradesh, 74 in Delhi, 64 in Andhra Pradesh, 60 in West Bengal, 42 in Rajasthan and 253 in various other states.

A total of 719 crore from 1,447 cyber fraud cases across India was transferred into 110 mule bank accounts of Bhavnagar branch of Indusind Bank from 130 payee bank accounts, the release said.

Police said 1594 cyber crimes were committed by the gang in different states of the country, including investment fraud, digital fraud, UPI-related fraud, deposit fraud, loan fraud, part-time job fraud, task fraud, and vishing call fraud.

More than 30 crypto wallets and 14 mobile phones were seized from their possession, police added. PTI KA BNM