NEW DELHI: An 88-year-old man’s stolen mobile phone led police to unearth an interstate cyber-fraud network with the arrest of nine people after raids in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, an officer said on Monday. “The accused allegedly stole mobile phones, used linked bank accounts to siphon money from victims and operated a call-centre-like setup in Jaipur to carry out banking transactions,” the officer further said.
According to police, the complainant, a resident of West Patel Nagar, reported that his mobile phone was stolen on May 19.
Two days later, after getting his SIM card reissued, he received alerts that Rs 70,000 had been withdrawn from his bank account through unauthorised transactions. The victim then reported the financial fraud to the National Cyber Crime Helpline, following which an FIR was registered.
“The investigation led police to a sophisticated interstate network with operations in Jaipur, Meerut and Ghaziabad,” the officer said. The investigation revealed that street-level operatives stole mobile phones from unsuspecting victims. In the second stage, operatives based in Meerut and Ghaziabad, who had a large inventory of mule bank accounts and fake SIM cards, allegedly siphoned funds from victims’ bank accounts.
“Police found that while the mule account supply chain was stationed in Meerut and Ghaziabad, the active banking intrusions were being executed live from Jaipur in Rajasthan,” DCP (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said.
A raid was conducted at a residential premise in Jhotwara, Jaipur, where principal operator Nikhil Soni and four associates were arrested. An illegal call-centre-like setup, equipped with laptops, tablets, routers, passbooks and diaries containing victim data, along with Rs 4 lakh in cash, was found there. Police also carried out coordinated raids across Ghaziabad and Meerut, apprehending four key suppliers of the mule-account network and seizing point-of-sale machines and mobile devices, the DCP said.