NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested seven persons involved in cybercrime, including a contractual employee of a nationalized bank, who opened bank accounts with fictitious addresses which were then sold to other cyber fraudsters.
Interestingly, while the Delhi Police were investigating a particular case and had identified and frozen one of these fraudulent accounts, the suspects sent an email to the bank manager, impersonating as an Investigating Officer from the IFSO unit. They requested the bank to "de-freeze" the account.
DCP (IFSO) Hemant Tiwari said a complaint was filed with the IFSO, stating that the complainant had been defrauded of Rs 91 lakhs under the pretext of lucrative returns from stock or crypto trading.
"The complainant was added in a WhatsApp group wherein perpetrators were giving stock recommendations. Upon persuasion of cyber crooks, the complainant opened an account on a website -- www.yotemog.com -- and transferred Rs 91 Lakh in 19 different accounts," the DCP said.
When the victim realized he had been cheated, he approached the police, which registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and began investigating.
"After analysis of bank accounts, it was found that one of the accounts of SBI which was registered under the name of Gaurav Trading, held Rs 46 lakh which was immediately seized ," the DCP said.
However, days later, the bank manager informed the police that they had received an email from an address similar to the official government email of the Investigating Officer, requesting the account be de-frozen. Upon technical analysis, it was found that this email had been sent using ProtonMail, indicating it was forged or fake.
Following a thorough investigation and digital footprint analysis, the police managed to identify and arrest two primary suspects, Ajay and Mohit. Subsequently, five more individuals identified as, Shankar (an SBI employee), Partyaksh Koshar, Manish Jawla, Shrayance Pandit, and Dinesh were arrested.