Police bust gang swindling victims of Rs 3.37 crore by hacking phones remotely

Nainital, Nov 16 (PTI) Four members of a major interstate cyberfraud network were arrested for allegedly hacking into people's phones and getting money transferred from their bank accounts, police said on Sunday.

The gang allegedly sent links on social media to gain access to victims' phones. All transactions were made to "mule accounts" to keep their identities hidden, they said.

Preliminary probe suggested that suspicious transactions of Rs 3.37 crore have been uncovered.

Tallital police intercepted a car at Bhediyapakhad mod in Do Gaon on Saturday during a checking drive conducted by Superintendent of Police Jagdish Chandra and Deputy Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar.

Police said the four occupants of the car were found suspicious, and a thorough search revealed 11 phones, nine SIM cards, several Aadhaar and PAN cards, cheque books, QR codes, and several debit and credit cards.

During interrogation, they revealed that they sent APK files via social media to access victims' phones. After hacking the devices, they transferred money to various "mule accounts".

Police said that a QR code was linked to a bank account related to a case in Delhi.

Shubham Gupta from Alwar, Rajasthan; Piyush Goyal from Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh; Rishabh Kumar from Ghaziabad, UP and Mohit Rathi from Gurugram, Haryana have been arrested.

Several high-end smartphones and a car used by the accused have also been confiscated. PTI DPT SKY SKY