In a recent development, Delhi Police has busted a cyber fraud ring run by three young men who took cues from Netflix’s “Money Heist”.
How Did This Happen?
A Delhi gang stole Rs 150 crore through an elaborate plan which is inspired by the Netflix thriller Money Heist.
They have gone to the extent that they have even used the show’s character names to keep them hidden.
It appears that the gang had tricked hundreds of people out of nearly ₹250 crore by sending fake stock tips on WhatsApp, then blocking victims and freezing their funds, over the last one and a half years.
For the stolen money, it is routed through fake accounts, converted to crypto, and linked to handlers in China and Cambodia.
The investigation for this case commenced when a Delhi government worker lost ₹21.77 lakh and reported it to police.
For tracing this scam, the Officers looked into the misused bank accounts belonging to vulnerable individuals.
Involvement Of Chinese Connection
The police seized multiple phones, SIM cards, and debit cards from the accused during arrests in Noida and Siliguri last month.
It appears that two more suspects are on the run as police dig deeper into international links and crypto trails.
The scammers took another Rs 23 crore by duping people online.
Delhi Police arrested the gang members who have been identified as Arpit, Prabhat, and Abbas.
According to them, they duped people on social media by promising them good returns from investing in the stock market.
While doing so, they used the screen names partly inspired by the web series and also to hide their identities, said the police.
Here mentioned, Arpit is a lawyer who became “Professor”, the other one, Computer Science Masters graduate Prabhat Vajpayee took the name “Amanda”, and Abbas took the name “Freddy.”
As part of this scam, they created several secret groups on social media, where they lured people with the promise of high return on investments in the stock market.
They operated by creating dozens of groups on social media and WhatsApp where they shared stock market advice and tips.
After that they promised excellent returns if people invested through them.
At the start, they booked small profits for gaining the trust of people but it changed, the moment somebody added a large amount to invest as their account would be blocked.
Those who tried to withdraw their money were duped and threatened into depositing more.
This way, they cheated over 300 people across the country.
Further, police mentioned that the gang members often stayed at luxury hotels and carried out the fraud from there using just mobile phones and laptops.
While doing the investigation, the police raided several places in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and West Bengal’s Siliguri.
The police appeared to have recovered 11 mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 12 bank passbooks and chequebooks, 32 debit cards, and screenshots of numerous online transactions and WhatsApp chats during their investigation.
Moving ahead, the gang’s connections extended to Noida and Guwahati as per the analysis of the transactions, call records, and internet logs.
It is noteworthy here that some Chinese suspects were also involved in the fraud.
These gang members were also involved in looting another Rs 23 crore using various means online, said the police.
It appears that a network of Chinese fraudsters running the operation from their country and suspected to have played a role in the cyber fraud.
Now, Indian police are looking for more members of the gang and their foreign network.
