Two accused in cyber fraud case arrested at Mumbai airport

Surat, Dec 3 (PTI) The cyber crime cell of Surat Police has arrested two accused in an alleged Rs 800 crore online betting scam from the Mumbai airport, an official said on Wednesday.

Jatin Thakkar alias John Raper (27), a resident of Ahmedabad's Naroda area, and Deepkumar Thakkar (24), a resident of Surat were produced before a court which remanded them in police custody for six days, he said.

The Cyber Crime Cell had earlier raided a place in Surat's Katargam area and arrested Meet Shah, Yash Shinde, Rushikesh Sapkal, Nilesh Solanki, and Pareshkumar Modi for allegedly duping people through online betting portals or platforms. Betting is illegal in India.

The accused allegedly operated 149 bank accounts. As many as 417 complaints were registered across India in connection with these accounts, the police official said.

As Jatin and Deepkumar were absconding, Surat Police had issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) for them.

Jatin Thakkar allegedly created `mule accounts' and managed large amounts of money collected from 50 online betting and gambling platforms including Big Idea, OPS, Parimatch, 10C, HRB, Tengo and WIZ45, the official said.

Mule accounts are bank accounts opened or used to hide illegal transactions.

Deepakkumar Thakkar allegedly collected money from online betting websites operating from Bangkok (Thailand) and Vietnam.

Police found details of 36 bank accounts from four mobile phones and two laptops seized from the accused.

These accounts figured in 227 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, involving a total fraud amount of Rs 88 crore, the official said, adding that further probe was on. PTI KVM PD KRK