MANGALURU: Mangaluru City Police have arrested 11 accused hailing from different parts of North India who were involved in a large-scale investment fraud operation that was being run from Nepal, targeting Indian citizens and cheating them of hundreds of crores of rupees.
City police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said the accused were part of an organised international fraud network comprising 16 Indian nationals and several Chinese nationals. Nepal Police have arrested the Chinese accused, while five Indian accused are currently absconding and efforts are underway to trace them.
During the investigation, police examined the mobile phones and laptops seized from the accused and found details of 624 bank accounts. More than 4,580 complaints related to these accounts have been registered on the NCRP portal. In one of the bank accounts alone, transactions worth Rs 167 crore were recorded. The commissioner said the remaining 623 bank accounts are yet to be obtained, adding that the final tally might run into thousands of crores.
Reddy said the investigation of a case registered at the Mangaluru Cyber Crime Police Station in which the complainant was cheated of Rs 1.38 crore led the police to the gang operating in Nepal, and eventually, they were arrested in Kerala. In this case, the fraudsters used 10 bank accounts (linked to about 128 complaints and 36 FIRs registered across the country on the NCRP portal) through which approximately Rs 30.70 crore was transferred.
Investigation revealed that one group of fraudsters operated from Nepal, recruiting bank account holders and agents through social media platforms. These accounts were used to transfer fraudulent proceeds, which were later converted into USDT cryptocurrency and sent abroad. Another group operated from Cambodia and other countries, where they contacted investors through social media platforms. The accused used 'digital slaves' to communicate with victims in local languages, luring them with promises of high investment returns. The Nepal-based group controlled and managed these financial transactions.
Reddy said that fraudsters procured bank accounts by advertising on Instagram and Telegram under fake company names, seeking corporate and current accounts, USDT-to-INR exchange operators, management operators, and OTP workers. Victims were promised commissions ranging from 5 to 10 percent along with flight tickets, cab services, hotel and lodge facilities, and were lured to places like Dubai and Nepal. Once there, the fraudsters used the account holders’ SIM cards in company-owned mobile phones to access net banking and transfer funds as required. The cheated money was converted into USDT and transferred daily to accused persons abroad.
To attract investors, the main accused, operating from Cambodia and Dubai, contacted Indian citizens through unknown WhatsApp numbers and social media platforms such as Instagram, Telegram, and Facebook, promising high returns. Fake apps were used to show inflated profits. Initially, small returns were paid to gain trust, after which victims were persuaded to invest larger amounts. The gang is estimated to be cheating Indians of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore daily through investment fraud.
The arrested accused have been identified as Makwan Vikram (25) from Gujarat; Soumyaditya Chattopadhyay (21) from West Bengal; Pupla Shiva Kumar Rao (32) from Jharkhand; Gaurav Pandey (24) from Uttar Pradesh; Harsh Mishra (22) from Uttar Pradesh; Rajesh Mandan (30) from Jharkhand; Mohammed Akeeb Ali (27) from Uttar Pradesh; Rajeev Ranjan Kumar (30) from Bihar; Mithun Kumar Mangaraj (38) from Jharkhand; Naushad Ali (34) from Uttar Pradesh; and Om Prakash Yadav (37) from Rajasthan.
Police have seized one laptop, 21 mobile phones, 20 SIM cards of various companies, and 20 debit and credit cards belonging to different banks from the accused.