HYDERABAD: Three persons, suspected to have defrauded several persons using digital means, including Rs 86 lakh from a city-based contractor, were arrested by the Cyber Crime wing of Rachakonda police. However, the prime accused in the racket, Deepu Mondal, is absconding.
Deposits valued at 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, Rachakonda Police Commissioner.
Mondal reportedly floated 14 shell companies to collect money under the pretext of investments and later, bought cryptocurrency with that amount. He took the help of arrested persons Nur Alam Haque, Ekram Hussain and Mohd Ijarul to dupe the people.
According to the police, Haque, a bank employee in West Bengal’s Siliguri, helped Mondal by opening 64 different bank accounts and procured various SIM cards under the names of illiterate villagers. For this, he sought the help of the other accused, who helped him in procuring the ID credentials of villagers by offering them meagre commissions, and collected their ATM cards, cheque books and internet banking credentials, the police said. He would use these accounts to keep the money he got by duping people, the cops added.
In this manner, Mondal and Haque contacted the victims using virtual numbers and lured them under the pretext of ‘crypto investments’. Once the money got credited into the said accounts, the accused would reportedly use that money to purchase cryptocurrency through an app called ZEBPAY. In the same manner, they contacted a resident of Ghatkesar through WhatsApp using virtual numbers and lured him to invest in cryptocurrency. The victim transferred a total of Rs 86 lakh in a span of less than two months to the accounts of the accused.
A team went to Siliguri and nabbed the three accused persons. The police cautioned the public to be alert about investment offers in such shell companies.