BENGALURU: A 37-year-old software engineer has been arrested by the CCB for creating a fake legal aid service and cheating cybercrime victims. The accused Thufail Ahmed is a resident of Kothanur and a native of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.
According to the police, a victim from Ramamurthy Nagar had lost Rs 1.5 crore in a cyber fraud in February. While searching online for legal aid services, the victim was contacted by Ahmed, who posed as a representative of ‘Quickmoto Legal Service’ and collected Rs 12.5 lakh from the victim promising to recover the lost money through legal means, but duped her.
Police found that the company had no physical office. However, another fake firm operated by the accused under the name ‘India Legal Service’ was traced in Kasturi Nagar and Ahmed was arrested.
The police said the accused had set up a call centre in Kasturi Nagar, employing 12 people as tele-callers to identify and target cybercrime victims seeking legal help. They contacted victims through VoIP to avoid detection. Ahmed’s brother, who works in Dubai, allegedly assisted him in setting up fake companies. Police found the firm was involved in illegal transactions amounting to crores of rupees. So far, 29 cases have been registered against the accused across the country.