BHUBANESWAR: Three cyber fraudsters were arrested on Sunday on charges of swindling Rs 8.50 lakh from a retired bank employee by sending fake bank links asking him to update his life certificate to receive pension.
The accused are Junaidur Islam (22), Ejajul Haque (23) and Harun Rashid (29), all natives of Assam. The victim, Bulu Dash (64) stays in Trinath Bazaar area here. He had reported the matter to Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police in November last year.
As per Dash, he had received a fraudulent UCO Bank link on his mobile phone on November 3, asking to update his life certificate to receive pension. After opening the link and submitting the required details, he received multiple OTPs. However subsequently, Dash found that his money was fraudulently debited from his bank account through multiple unauthorised online transactions. Investigation led to the detection of an inter-state cyber fraud syndicate engaged in committing such frauds, said a police officer. Soon after, the trio was arrested.
Investigators found that Rashid and one of his associates, who is still on the run, had opened mule bank accounts and procured SIM cards in different names. The mule bank accounts and SIM cards were then handed over to another fraudster based out of Jamtara. Meanwhile, Haque acted as a recruiter and facilitator of mule bank account holders in Assam’s Morigaon district, while Islam provided his identity documents at a commission of Rs 6,000 to procure a SIM card, which was used to carry out the online frauds.
Police said the gang sent fake bank links to the victims asking them to update their life certificate. The trio was involved in cyber frauds in New Delhi, Rajasthan and Odisha. Three more accused are still at large, police said.