JHARSUGUDA: Jharsuguda police has arrested 13 members of a cyber fraud syndicate that allegedly operated through mule bank accounts to siphon off money from unsuspecting victims.
Briefing mediapersons on Tuesday evening, Jharsuguda SP Gundala Reddy Raghavendra said the gang operated in an organised and multi-layered structure. They lured local youths into opening bank accounts with promises of quick cash after which complete account kits including ATM cards, passbooks, SIM-linked mobile numbers, and internet banking access were handed over to the intermediaries engaged by the gang.
Their modus operandi involved offering `15,000 for opening a mule account. The account holder received `5,000 and the mediator received `10,000. They had established a network of unsuspecting victims across western Odisha including Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Rourkela, Sonepur and Sambalpur, targeting mostly students and daily wage labourers.
Some intermediaries were tasked with collecting bank credentials for multiple mule accounts in the region. Once these accounts were activated, another set of intermediaries sent the credentials to locations outside the state such as Jamtara in Bihar, where the accounts were used to receive and siphon off money obtained by defrauding victims across the country.
Police said the syndicate funnelled fraud proceeds through these accounts, withdrawing or transferring money to distant handlers, making the trail difficult to detect.
The SP said, “During the course of investigation, we found that only four cyber crime complaints have been reported so far that are linked to this gang, two in Cyberabad and one each in Ghazipur and Meerut.
Based on the findings conducted with the help of Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, we have identified 61 mule accounts so far. Investigation is underway and the number may exceed 100. We have also found Rs 16,44,000, which has been frozen in these mule accounts.”
Raghavendra said of the 13 arrested people, two are juveniles, six are from Jharsuguda and three from Sambalpur. One of the accused is a native of Bihar who was residing in Rourkela. Police have seized a large volume of incriminating materials including bank passbooks, documents and ATM cards from them.
“Efforts are on to trace the forward and backward linkages of the gang which has a wide network across the country,” he added.
