The Bengaluru city police claims to have caught a syndicate which is responsible for a 158 crore rupees fraud by duping people by promising them work from home jobs.
Syndicate behind 158 Crore Rupees Fraud Nabbed by Bengaluru Police
As per the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials, Amir Sohail and Inayat Khan from Bengaluru, Syed Abbas Ali, Mithun Manish Shah, Naina Raj, Satish, and Mihir Shashikanth Shah from Mumbai, Nayaz, and Adil from Hyderabad are those have been caught while two more suspects remain to be nabbed.
B Dayananda, Police Commissioner of Bengaluru city said that “The suspects played various roles within the operation, ranging from the establishment of mule accounts to their operation and engagement with potential targets. However, the masterminds behind this intricate network have yet to be identified”.
Modus Operandi of Syndicate
The modus operandi of this syndicate was to use dubious phone numbers to communicate with potential victims via platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram under the guise of providers of work from home earning options. Once the victims were convinced to invest, they were asked to complete several tasks which included simple tasks like liking YouTube videos or installing app. Upon completion of this, they were promised monetary rewards.
While the victims could see that their digital wallets were being credit across various stages, the fraud did not unravel till the time they tried to withdraw these funds. It was this when they realized that they had fallen prey to a scam since their digital accounts were fake. They took this matter to the police who started investigating this.
After a complaint by from a Vidyaranyapura resident said to have lost Rs 18.5 lakh, CCB officials froze Rs 62.8 lakh across 30 bank accounts. Upon investigation and further scrutiny, it was revealed that the suspects who were behind this were involved in such 2,143 cybercrime cases reported across 28 states through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
Out of total 265 reported cases in Karnataka, Bengaluru city alone accounted for 135 cases across 14 police stations.
