NEW DELHI: Five people were arrested in connection with a large-scale social media investment fraud racket, police said on Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Rahul Kumar, Ajay Sharma (32), Sonu Kumar (36), Kunal Sagar (28), all residents of Kirari, and Mohit Dadhich (27), a resident of Safdarjung Enclave, they said.
“A complaint was received in which the complainant alleged that she was cheated of around Rs 4.8 lakh by a Telegram-based fraud ring posing as investment advisors. The complainant stated that in March, she was approached on Telegram by a woman identifying herself as ‘Lalitha,’ who shared a fraudulent investment link. Initially, small returns (Rs 1,165 and Rs 16,902) were shown as credited to her account to gain her trust,” an officer said.
Later, she was pressured to invest larger amounts and transferred around Rs 4.8 lakh into multiple accounts.
After receiving the funds, the accused became untraceable. Technical analysis revealed that part of the cheated amount had been routed to an account in the name of “AJ Technology,” which was opened using forged documents.
Police said the investigation began after a written complaint was received in March. “A raid at Prem Nagar-II, Kirari revealed that ‘Ajay Kumar,’ the purported proprietor of AJ Technology, was fictitious. The real operator was identified as Rahul Kumar, who admitted to using fake PAN and Aadhaar to open and operate the account.
He provided banking facilities to fraudsters through forged documents and worked with agents who arranged mule accounts,” a police officer said. Financial analysis revealed that transactions worth around Rs 2.5 crore were conducted through the account within just two months.
So far, 14 complaints have been registered across India against this single account. Rahul also revealed that Sharma, his business partner and cyber café owner, helped in creating fake KYC verifications and forged IDs used for opening fraudulent bank accounts. Both were arrested, official added. “Later, Sonu Kumar was also arrested.
His number had been used by the fraudsters for GST filings. Sonu, a skating trainer with knowledge of GST filing learned from his CA friends, had taught Ajay and Rahul how to manipulate the process,” DCP (Central) Nidhin Valsan said. Further probe led to the arrest of Kunal, an agent responsible for procuring fake KYCs, creating mule accounts, and managing account operations, the DCP added.
