Of 91 held for cyber frauds, most from outside Delhi

Police said many gangs based in other states are targeting people desperately looking for Covid medicines.

A grocer from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, an unemployed man from Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, and a cellphone dealer from West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas were among 91 people arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly duping Delhi-NCR residents by promising to supply Covid-19 medicines or medical essentials such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators.

In most cases, such fraudsters contacted their intended victims after seeing SOS messages on social media for medicines and other essentials such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday said several cyber fraudsters from outside Delhi were involved in duping city residents online, taking advantage of the panic triggered by the rise in cases and the shortage of medical essentials.

At a press conference on Tuesday, police said that they found that some of the SIM cards used by the alleged fraudsters to receive payments were registered in states other than Delhi.

In most cases, such fraudsters contacted their intended victims after seeing SOS messages on social media for medicines and other supplies. Promising to deliver these essentials, the fraudsters would demand an online payment, and once the money was transferred, would switch off their phones, police said.

Police have so far blocked 810 SIM cards used in such crimes.

Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal said most of the SIM cards were registered in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Bihar.

Separately, police have also frozen 214 bank accounts, a majority of them in the states mentioned above, which collectively had ₹53.6 lakh in them. Through a tie-up with caller identification app, True Caller, police also identified 168 cellphones numbers and tagged them as “Covid spam numbers”.

“Till date, we received 910 such complaints on our helpline, email and the national cyber crime portal. A total of 372 FIRs have been registered and 91 people arrested. The analysis of the cases indicated that the frauds were being committed by people from different states. The police chiefs of those states were contacted and the cyber teams have started work. Our investigation has revealed that while a SIM card is registered in one state, the fraud is being perpetrated in another state. The bank accounts of these fraudsters are also spread across the country,” said Biswal.

Police officers,who were part of cases in which the arrests were made, said that while cyber criminals are seeking out people who seek help on social media, some of the fraudsters are out-of-job con men who have found a lucrative way to exploit people.

One officer said most of the people in whose names the bank accounts were opened had no idea about the frauds.

“The complaints on our helpline have reduced of late. There are 20 teams on the ground in several states, and a substantial number of arrests are likely in the coming days,” Biswal said.

Records seen by HT show that in the last few days, police have received fewer than 20 calls reporting such frauds.

On Monday, the control room received six calls, while on Sunday, there were 17. Distress calls peaked in the first four days of May -- 59 on May 1, 104 on May 2, 85 on May 3, and 69 on May 4.

“We have also released an advisory on our social media handles, urging people not to fall victim to such fraudsters... We urge people to call on 112, 011-23469900 or 155260 in case any such person approaches them with promises of help,” Biswal said.