Delhi Police arrest 4 for running fake websites of major brands duping people of over ₹1 crore

Police said the suspects developed fake websites, got similar sounding domains registered, and then promoted these sites online

The Delhi Police’s cyber crime unit has busted an inter-state gang of cyber frauds, who operated fake websites of iconic brands, offered people to become dealers and distributers and duped them of lakhs of money. While four members of the gang have been arrested, police said the gang is allegedly involved in at least 126 cases of cyber fraud across 16 states and Union Territories and have siphoned off over ₹1.1 crore from victims’ accounts.

While four members of the gang have been arrested, police said the gang is allegedly involved in at least 126 cases of cyber fraud. (Shutterstock)

A 30-year-old woman came across a website claiming to belong to M/s Haldiram, and offered franchises and dealerships. Over the course of the next few days, she filled as many forms and paid ₹11.74 lakh in two months.

Police said she was in touch with some ‘Haldiram officials’. A senior official from Halidaram told HT on the condition of anonymity. “There are no franchises of the brand. Every store has a separate owner.”

When the woman was asked to pay another ₹1.6 lakh on some vague grounds, she realized she had been taken for a ride. She filed a police complaint, following which police busted the inter-state gang of cyber cheats.

Anyesh Roy, deputy commissioner of police, Cyber Prevention and Detection unit’s (CyPAD) special cell, said during the course of the investigation, it was found that a large number of websites are running in the name of M/s Haldiram, and all these websites are offering franchisee of M/s Haldiram against consideration of huge amounts. It was also found that a large number of people across the country have fallen prey to such fake websites.

“The fraudsters are using multiple bank accounts and operating a large number of bogus SIM cards in more than 36 smartphones to cheat people. We fetched all these details and found that the gang is spread out across the country. A team was immediately formed to nab the culprits. After several raids, four people, including the mastermind of the gang Vikas Mistry (24), were arrested,” said Roy.

On examining the devices recovered from the accused and the data related to the fake websites of M/s Haldiram, police found that the suspects were also running fake websites of reputed brands, such as Amul and Patanjali.

Police said the suspects developed the fake websites, got their similar sounding domains registered, and also promoted these sites through Google Ads for higher ranking and visibility so that every time a person searched about these brands on Google with relevant keywords, such as dealership, distributorship, franchisee, etc, he would be directed to the fake website.

Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, Roy said that during interrogation, Vikas revealed that he, along with his associates, purchased the domain names of big brands such as Haldiram, Amul, Patanjali, etc., from various developers, including one Vinay Vikram Singh (37), who has been arrested. Singh developed the websites in such a manner that it seemed to be the genuine website of the big brands, said police.

One phone number was also displayed on the website, said police adding that when someone called on the given number for distributorship of the brand, he was asked to pay fees on the pretext of various charges.

“Vikas used to switch locations between Bihar and Ludhiana. In Ludhiana, he used to stay for months and do the same work with his relatives, who were given a commission from the cheated amounts,” said Roy.