NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has busted a mule bank account racket being used to route money from cyber frauds and arrested three people from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in this regard, officials said on Friday.
This comes after an e-FIR was registered on the complaint by a resident of IP Extension who had been cheated in an online transaction fraud. In his complaint, the victim alleged that money was fraudulently withdrawn from his account and transferred to multiple bank accounts.
During the investigation, police traced the flow of funds through banking records, mobile numbers, KYC details and other digital evidence. Officials found that around Rs 72,000 of the defrauded amount had been transferred to a bank account belonging to Shivam Kumar, a resident of Muzaffarnagar. Further analysis showed that another Rs 49,900 had been credited to an account linked to Rajender Sharma, a resident of Tilak Nagar in Delhi.
Both account holders were traced and detained for questioning. During the interrogation, Shivam Kumar reportedly disclosed that his account had been opened at the behest of Ankit Chaudhary, a resident of Meerut. Acting on the input, a police team promptly conducted a raid in Meerut and arrested Chaudhary, who is suspected to be a key facilitator in the network.
According to police, Chaudhary has admitted to arranging and supplying multiple bank accounts to cyber fraudsters through associates in exchange for commissions. He is believed to have facilitated at least five such arrangements used in cyber crimes.
The accused had targeted unemployed and financially vulnerable individuals, persuading them to open bank accounts on the promise of commissions or jobs. Once opened, the accounts along with ATM cards and banking credentials were handed over to cybercriminals, who used them to access the proceeds of fraud.
Officials have so far recovered and secured over Rs 1 lakh linked to the case.