BHUBANESWAR: Four cyberfrauds who minted lakhs of rupees by sending fake RTO e-challans to unsuspecting victims and stole sensitive banking details have been arrested from Telangana by the Commissionerate Police.
The accused used to defraud by sending malicious android package kit (APK) files which when downloaded allowed them to steal sensitive information.
The four were identified as Mohammed Abbas (37), MD Salman (29) and MD Amair (31), all belonging to Hyderabad, and Mukesh Turi (27) of Jharkhand’s Jamtara district.
As per police, the fraudsters are members of the infamous Jamtara gang which gained notoriety as a major hub for phishing and cyber frauds.
Addressing mediapersons, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said the case dates back to September last year when one Jashobanta Jena lodged a complaint alleging that cyber criminals stole `7 lakh from his bank account after he clicked on a malicious file disguised as an RTO e-challan sent to him on WhatsApp.
On receiving the complaint, Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police registered a case and launched a probe into the matter and tracked down the accused.
Singh said, Turi was the mastermind and operated the inter-state racket from Jamtara. Turi and Abbas are school dropouts while other two are Class 10 pass outs.
Elaborating on their modus operandi, the police commissioner said Turi generated the malicious links and APK files from Jamtara and sent them to the victims to carry out fraudulent financial transactions. Abbas, Salman and Amair managed the mule bank accounts and withdrew the swindled money from them, he added.
Investigation revealed Turi, with the help of his other four associates who are yet to be nabbed, assisted him in generating the harmful links. The mastermind travelled by air to different states and coordinated with mule bank account holders, agents and other members of the syndicate.
DCP Jagmohan Meena said Abbas opened the mule bank accounts and sold them to Salman and Amair for `6,000 each. Salman acted as the link among the gang members and Amair handed over the mule bank accounts to mastermind Turi.