Barnala police bust interstate cyber fraud gang, 6 held
Kingpin still at large, all six have been sent to judicial custody; 67 mobile phones, 18 ATM cards, 17 SIM cards, 1 laptop, ₹55,000 in cash have been recovered from their possession.
The Barnala police have busted an interstate cyber fraud gang involved in duping people under the guise of facilitating personal loans while the kingpin, Amit Kumar, remains at large, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sarfaraz Alam said on Friday.
He said the action had been taken after a complaint was received via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal which led to the registration of the FIR on June 9, under sections 318(4) BNS and 66-D IT Act. Police conducted a raid on June 10 at a fake call centre operating out of Zirakpur and apprehended six people, Pawan Kumar, a resident of SAS Nagar, Bhawan Mewara, a resident of Jodhpur, Ambika, a resident of Shimla, and G Chinna Reddy, Jada Veera Siva Bhagyaraj, and Kona Chiranjeevi, all residents of Andhra Pradesh. He said all six have been sent to judicial custody.
He said 67 mobile phones, 18 ATM cards, 17 SIM cards, 1 laptop, 1 CPU , ₹55,000 in cash have been recovered from their possession.
The police said initial investigations reveal that this gang has been operating for the past two years, targeting individuals across Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and other states through fake call centres and social media-based loan scams. The scrutiny of 21 bank accounts associated with the gang has already revealed suspicious transactions worth approximately ₹6 crore. Given their consistent two-year operation, total fraudulent transactions are estimated to be in the range of ₹20–22 crore, with monthly inflows exceeding ₹1 crore across various accounts. The police said Amit is a resident of Zirakpur and leads a lavish lifestyle, adding efforts are underway to apprehend him.
