BHUBANESWAR: The cyber police wing of Commisionerate Police has arrested four cyber fraudsters for allegedly cheating people of over Rs 70 lakh by circulating APK files in the name of ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP) membership, fake investment schemes and RTO challans.
The Cyber Crime and Economic Offences police arrested the accused - Ayan Nandi (27) of Nadia district in West Bengal, Allaudin Ansari (36) of Jamtara in Jharkhand, and Abhisek Das (21) and Birendra Das (20) of Deoghar district in Jharkhand after raids in the two states.
Police said the accused had been disguising malicious APK files in unsuspecting messages and luring people to join CJP with promises of rewards and gift cards.
“We found that the accused worked on fraudulent gift card schemes and malicious digital links in the name of CJP, and pushed their targets to take membership in the party through these links. We suspect they were attempting to commit cyber fraud in this manner,” Cyber Police ACP Suchismita Das said.
Police said the fraudsters also sent APK files disguised as RTO challans. Unsuspecting users were being tricked into downloading malware, which enabled these cyber criminals to access their banking credentials, OTPs and personal information on mobile phones.
In one of the major cases, a retired government official lost `26 lakh in a fake IPO investment scam through a fraudulent platform named “F29 Avendus Capital Wealth Investment Exchange Academy”. The victim was promised returns exceeding `1 crore.
Investigators found that accused Ayan operated a sole proprietorship firm named ‘Nandi Technology’ and received around `5 lakh from the cheated amount. Police said his bank account had links to at least 14 cyber crime complaints registered across several states.
In another case, cyber police found that Abhishek and his aides circulated malicious APK files through Telegram groups, earning `2,000 from every successful download. Police said the gang circulated between 10 and 40 malicious APK files daily.
During searches, police seized mobile phones, a laptop and printouts of online conversations related to APK preparation, mule account operations and fraud transactions.
Citizens have been advised not to share banking credentials, OTPs, SIM cards or account details with strangers and youth warned against easy-money schemes involving mule accounts and cyber fraud activities.