BHUBANESWAR: The city police on Saturday arrested three persons for allegedly providing mule bank accounts to cyber fraudsters involved in cheating people to the tune of Rs 3.84 crore.
The accused Sarbeswar Mohanty (46), Sumanta Mahalik (41) and Pradeep Kumar Sarangi (32) had opened mule bank accounts in Trisulia area in the name of two fake companies - M/s Trideep Traders Private Limited and M/s Trideep Technologies Private Limited.
Investigation revealed Mohanty was the mastermind of the scam and he provided the mule bank accounts to cyber fraudsters operating from various parts of the country. The trio had links with the scamsters, who have reportedly swindled about Rs 3.84 crore from hundreds of investors on the pretext of providing them higher returns by investing in trading.
Mohanty and Sarangi received huge commissions for providing mule bank accounts, while Mahalik was paid Rs 15,000 per month assisting them in the crime. The matter came to light after a person lodged a complaint in Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station alleging he and his relatives were cheated of Rs 62.89 lakh by cyber fraudsters.
The complainant stated that the scamsters lured them on WhatsApp to invest in a trading company to obtain higher returns. Initially, the victims received some money but later they were even not able to withdraw their principal amount.
Out of the total cheated amount, Rs 15 lakh was transferred to the account of Trideep Traders. Besides this case, at least 23 complaints were earlier registered against the company with National Cyber Reporting Platform (NCRP).
“Mohanty was earlier working in New Delhi. He came in contact with some cyber fraudsters there. The three accused were providing mule bank accounts to the fraudsters,” said an officer of Cyber Crime police station, adding further probe was underway.