9 of cyber crime nexus held after elderly loses ₹70K in Delhi

Delhi Police have arrested nine people from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and busted an interstate cybercrime nexus, which steals mobile phones and uses the linked bank accounts to siphon off money, police said on Monday

Delhi Police have arrested nine people from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and busted an interstate cybercrime nexus, which steals mobile phones and uses the linked bank accounts to siphon off money, police said on Monday.

9 of cyber crime nexus held after elderly loses ₹70K in Delhi

According to deputy commissioner of police (central) Rohit Rajbir Singh, the accused ran a call centre in Rajasthan, where technical experts logged into banking accounts of victims whose mobile phones were stolen, routed unauthorised transactions into mule accounts and quickly liquidated cash using point of sale (POS) machines and online payment channels.

According to the DCP, the racket was busted after an 88-year-old man, resident of West Patel Nagar, reported that his mobile phone was stolen on May 19 this year. Two days later, after getting his SIM card reissued, he received alerts that ₹70,000 had been withdrawn from his bank account through two transactions.

“The senior citizen reported the fraud on the National Cyber Crime Helpline, following which an FIR was registered on July 23. The investigation led us to an interstate network with operations in Jaipur, Meerut and Ghaziabad. Nine people were arrested and 52 mobile phones, 145 SIM cards, 70 debit cards, six POS machines, six laptops and tablets, and four high-speed internet routers were recovered apart from ₹4 lakh cash,” he added.

“The syndicate functioned through three modules. The first module is of street operatives who stole mobile phones from unsuspecting victims. The second module included technical handlers who ran the call centre while the third module comprised operatives based in Meerut and Ghaziabad who have mule bank accounts, POS machines, and fake SIM cards used to siphon/steal the funds from victims’ accounts,” DCP Singh explained.

The arrested men were identified as Nikhil Soni, 26, Abhishek Kumar Jha, 23, Anand Sah Sonar, 26, Prince Sah Sonar, 20, Bishkek Kumar Jha, 21 – all five from Jaipur – Amar Jatav, 23, Harsh, 23, Mohan, 24, and Vashu, 19, from Hapur, Ghaziabad and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, police said.