NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted a pan-India digital arrest scam syndicate and arrested five people from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Lokesh Gupta, Manoj Kumar Chaudhary, Mohit Jain, Keshav Kumar, and Saif Ali.
A complainant reported that she had been duped of Rs 19 lakh by cyber criminals under the false pretext of a digital arrest. She received a call from a person posing as an NCB officer and later claiming to be a Deputy Commissioner of Police. She was falsely informed that her Aadhaar card was used in criminal activities and was threatened with legal action.
She was directed to join a Skype ID where the fraudsters showed fake NCB ID cards and letters to make the scam appear genuine. Under coercion, she was induced to share bank details, debit card images, OTPs and ultimately transfer her money to secure accounts.
The victim first transferred Rs 89,286 and later Rs 19.92 lakh (a personal loan credited to her bank account without her knowledge), which she was induced to transfer to an account in the name of M/s Lokeaj innovation private limited.
During the investigation, police conducted multiple operations in Delhi, Hapur and Greater Noida. Later, one suspect was identified as Lokesh Gupta who was arrested on September 23 from Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Nidhin Valsan said.
He revealed that two shell firms were opened and he and one Ajay Kumar were made director of the both firms and Gupta received RS 1.5 lakh for the work and of getting bank accounts opened in the name of those two companies. Gupta further disclosed that he has given all the documents of bank accounts to one Deepak Goyal and Chaudhary was a partner of Goyal.
Later, Chaudhary was arrested on September 25 from Hapur and Jain and Keshav were also arrested from Greater Noida on September 26 and huge incriminating material was recovered from them. Police also arrested Saif Ali from Shahdara. He used to arrange people for opening shell firms and bank accounts for Mohit Jain @ Rinku and Keshav Kumar, for which he received Rs seven lakh, the DCP said.
The accused disclosed they were part of a Pan-India organised fraud syndicate. The gang systematically misled people for opening shell firm and opens bank account the name of shell firms. Jain has disclosed that he used to get 2 per cent to 3 per cent of cheated amount received in these bank accounts and further provided money to mule account holders.
