Delhi Police arrest 4 cyber crooks behind 10 cheating cases in Jaipur

Police said they got on the trail of the accused after they allegedly duped a medical representative, Arvind (only first name), and his wife of ₹10 lakh on January 13. Police said the victim had saved the money for his mother’s cancer treatment

Four cyber criminals, who allegedly duped at least 10 people after gaining access to payment apps on their phones by offering to update their Know Your Customer (KYC) details, were arrested from Jaipur in Rajasthan by the Delhi Police.

Police said at least 10 online cheating cases registered in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) have been solved with the arrests. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police said they got on the trail of the accused after they allegedly duped a medical representative, Arvind (only first name), and his wife of ₹10 lakh on January 13. Police said the victim had saved the money for his mother’s cancer treatment.

According to police, the cyber crooks allegedly tricked Arvind into downloading a remote access app on his and his wife’s phones in the guise of updating the KYC details of a payment app. Once downloaded, police said, the accused allegedly stole confidential details related to his bank account and the payment wallet, and used it to steal the money.

Police said at least 10 online cheating cases registered in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) have been solved with the arrests.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said that Arvind had filed a complaint on the cyber crime portal of the Union ministry of home affairs and the same was transferred to the north district’s cyber cell police station. In his complaint, Arvind alleged that he received a link on his cellphone for updating the KYC of his online wallet on January 13. He clicked the link and filled in all the required details, such as wallet number, password, OTP, debit card number, its card verification value (CVV) and the expiry date.

“Arvind immediately received a call from the same mobile number... The caller identified himself as the wallet executive and directed him to download an app, which facilitates remote access of devices, on his phone and got him to share its passcode. As Arvind shared that information, money started deducting from his online wallet and bank accounts as well. When his accounts were emptied, the caller tricked him into downloading the same app on his wife’s phone and emptied her accounts too. Altogether, ₹10 lakh was stolen from their accounts,” said DCP Kalsi.

The investigating team collected details of the caller’s mobile number and the accounts to which the money was transferred. Through technical investigation, investigators found that the calls were made from Jaipur but the money was withdrawn from various banks in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

“Further investigation revealed that some suspects were in Jaipur while at least two had gone to Jharkhand. We sent one team each to Jaipur and Jharkhand. The team in Jaipur caught Mukesh Kumar Singh (19) and Pintu Mandal from Jaipur. Their interrogation revealed that their associates Dular Mandal (21) and Chet Lal (23) had gone to Giridih in Jharkhand to withdraw the cheated money. The team in Jharkhand subsequently caught the duo,” the DCP said, adding that seven mobile phones, six SIM cards and 11 ATM cards used in the crimes were seized.

DCP Kalsi said that the four suspects revealed that they originally belonged to Dhanbad in Jharkhand but had been running their racket from Jaipur, where they were living lavishly in a posh residential neighbourhood.

“They had recently purchased a Venue car using the cheated money. Ten cases have been solved. We are hoping to crack more cases,” added the DCP.