PUDUCHERRY: The Cyber Crime Police has arrested five persons from Patna in connection with a cyber fraud in which a local businessman was cheated of Rs 30.97 lakh. The accused have been identified as Rahulkumar Singh, Uttam Vishal Kumar, Rayushan Kumar, Abhishek Kumar and Dayand.
According to sources, Puducherry-based businessman Sethuraman complained to police that he was contacted via WhatsApp by persons claiming to be representatives of Vizag Steel Sales. They offered goods at discounted rate and convinced him to transfer Rs 30,97,264 to their account. Upon receiving the payment, the fraudsters allegedly went incommunicado.
A case was registered on July 3, 2024. The investigation, led by Inspector S Diagaradjane, traced the fraudulent transaction to a UCO Bank account operating from Bihar. With the aid of advanced cyber tools, the suspects were traced to Patna.
A special team led by Inspector BC Kirtty went to Patna, apprehended the accused and seized Rs 34 lakh, mobile phones, debit cards, bank passbooks, chequebooks, a Wi-Fi dongle, and notebooks containing customer data.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were part of a larger syndicate running online scams posing as representatives of companies such as Vizag Steels, Zuari Cement, and Jindal Steels. The estimated value of the total fraud is believed to run to several crores.
The arrested persons were brought to Puducherry and remanded to judicial custody. DIG Sathyasundaram and SSP (I/C) Praveen Kumar Tripathi have commended the Cyber Crime team for cracking the case.