HYDERABAD: Three cyber fraudsters including a private bank employee from West Bengal who cheated a city contractor to the tune of Rs 86 lakh under the guise of investments in crypto trading were arrested by the cybercrime wing of Rachakonda.
The prime accused Deepu Mondal is absconding. He floated fourteen shell companies for collecting investments in crypto trading from victims and with the help of the arrested accused NurAlam Haque, Ekram Hussain and Mohd Ijarul looted the gullible public.
Deposits of Rs 50 lakh in bank accounts used by the accused have been frozen and mobile phones, SIM cards and other material have been seized from their possession, said Mahesh Bhagwat, Commissioner, Rachakonda police.
Mondal used floated shell companies to collect money in the name of investments from victims and later exchanged the amounts by purchasing cryptocurrency. NurAlam Haque, a bank employee in Siliguri district in West Bengal, helped in opening 64 different bank accounts and procured various SIM cards in the names of illiterate villagers with the help of the other accused who helped in procuring the identity credentials of the villagers by offering them petty commissions and collected their ATM cards, cheque books and internet banking details.
This data was used for crediting amounts transferred by the victims. In this manner, Mondal and Haque contacted the victims using virtual numbers and lured them in the name of “crypto investments”. Once the money got credited into the said accounts, the accused used to purchase cryptocurrency through an app called Zebpay.
In the same manner, they contacted the victim, a resident of Ghatkesar, through WhatsApp using virtual numbers and lured him to invest in crypto investments. He first invested Rs 50,000 and got a profit of Rs 10,000. Later, they convinced him to invest huge amounts for getting huge profits in a very short time and duped him of a total of Rs 86 lakh in less than two months. Based on technical evidence, a team had gone to Siliguri and nabbed three accused persons.
Police have cautioned the public to be alert of investment offers in such shell companies, especially those used by the accused, and have also released a list of firms in this case -- Bitzium Technology Pvt.Ltd, Cargo Solutions, Curved Har Productions, Harcharan Enterprises, Quiko M Information TEC, Sky Destinations Travels, Intra Express Logistics, Fanigo Consultancy, Mahadevi Enterprises, Fateh Textiles, AW Lecan, MD Ijarul from VA, Windberry and Bisful TEC.