Zirakpur cyber swindlers had American aides: Police
The members of the gang in America transmitted the money to the alleged kingpin Mohammad Nadim Kuraishi and other key associates operating the gang from India
A day after Zirakpur police busted a gang of cyber criminals who had been duping Americans, an investigation established that the local gang had accomplices active in America.
A total of 21 accused, including four females, operating from multiple residential properties in Zirakpur were arrested after intelligence bureau (IB) shared inputs with the local police.
Police named four key accused in the FIR, including Kuraishi, Jatu, both residents of Sikar, Rajasthan; Akash Bisht of Dehradun and South Sudan native Omar Jofari. The case was registered following the complaint of inspector Jaskanwal Singh Sekhon, station house officer (SHO), Zirakpur.
According to police, the US-based accomplices used to receive money in dollars from American victims whom the arrested accused duped by hacking their bank accounts.
The members of the gang in America transmitted the money to the alleged kingpin Mohammad Nadim Kuraishi and other key associates operating the gang from India. The payment was done in Bitcoins (crypto currency) via dark web, where people can hide their identity or illegal money trail.
Mohali superintendent of police (SP) investigation Jayoti Yadav, while holding a press conference along with deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Harsimrat Singh Chhetra and CIA incharge inspector Harminder Singh said the key gang members recruited people, looking for online jobs or work from home, through social media.
“The staff, including four Africans, were well aware that they were duping Americans and used to get a monthly salary of ₹25,000 besides commission on each successful target. People with good English skills and those who could talk in an American accent were usually hired. The staff were provided with scripts which, while posing as police officers, custom officers, Amazon or Microsoft staff, they had to follow while conversing with targets,” SP Yadav said.
Modus operandi
Posing as officials from various departments, the accused used to threaten their targets by telling them that illegal parcels in their names were recovered from people coming from Mexico. When the victims denied any association with the parcel, they forcefully used to make them click on certain links citing that they would have to fill in their details to verify their identity. Money used to get debited from their bank accounts immediately after victims clicked at those links.
Following another mode of cheating, the accused, posing as Amazon or Microsoft staff, used to siphon money from their accounts by hacking their phones.
“The four African nationals arrested by us had overstayed in India as their visas have already expired. We will take appropriate action against them. Other than them, we have arrested many natives of West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab. They had taken the flats on rent where they were operating the network for around a month now,” the SP added.
Another officer said after the crackdown on the call centres in commercial areas, a new trend of operating fake call centres from residential areas has emerged.
“The employees working for the key accused were not aware of the whereabouts of their bosses. The arrested staff thought that their seniors were In Delhi, while they were actually directing them while sitting in the nearby flats from where they were arrested,” added an officer.
Earlier police recovered 24 laptops, ₹1.44 lakh cash, five foreign currencies in various denominations, three Indian passports and five cheque books from the possession of the accused.