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Gang busted: Conmen targeted banks, travel & food delivery chains, say Ludhiana police
With the arrest of seven persons, Ludhiana police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a pan-India network of cyber criminals, who had been fleecing corporate houses,
With the arrest of seven persons, Ludhiana police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a pan-India network of cyber criminals, who had been fleecing corporate houses, financial institutions, online travel and food-delivery chains besides poor individuals. The gang was committing crime on the lines of the notorious Jamtara gang of Jharkhand.
As per police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal, the gang was in touch with other white-collar criminals operating in different parts of the country. “They had supplied bank accounts to fraudsters in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (UP),” he added.
The accused have been identified as Vijay Kumar alias Bittu, Anshuman Singh alias Anshu, Sushil Kumar Patel, Suraj Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Rohit and Ram Narain alias Dablu, all residents of Uttar Pradesh.
“Interestingly, no one has studied beyond high school but they could put a tech graduate or a banker to shame when it comes to fudging with records,” said one of the officials probing the case.
Vijay Kumar is the kingpin of the gang. According to the police, he was working for a cellular company and used to collect Aadhaar and PAN cards of customers. Later, he learnt how to use the crucial documents for committing cyber frauds.
“They were doing petty cyber crimes for the past five years, but their activities intensified during the Covid-induced lockdown when most of the businesses shifted online,” commissioner Agrawal said.
The gang was operating from a small house in Giaspura area. The police commissioner has not ruled out the involvement of more people, including women, in the gang.
The accused were using fake identity proofs such as Aadhaar and PAN cards for creating instant bank accounts, mostly of ICICI Bank, the police said.
They were selling these bank account details for about ₹1,500 to ₹3,000 besides selling debit cards to other fraudsters for ₹3,000 to ₹4,000. On the basis of bank accounts, the gang operating in other parts of the country were applying for loan and after availing it, they would withdraw the amount using a debit card.
“We have also arrested Rohit, an employee of a courier company, who was actively involved with the gang and provided fake bank account details to Vijay and his accomplices,” the police chief said.
They also used to procure SIM cards on the basis of fake documents and sell them for ₹200 to ₹400.
“They made full use of these fake documents and availed online loan from mobile apps like Dhani and Red Carpet and then transfer the amount to their personal bank accounts via online wallets. The accused, who were arrested on Tuesday, have confessed to committing a fraud of ₹25 lakh with Dhani and Red Carpet apps,” said Agarwal.
They also duped OLA cab drivers by getting IDs and OTPs in the name of verification by posing as company employees and then opened online bank accounts on the credentials of drivers. Then they would sell these accounts on Whatsapp/FB groups to the avail the refunds disbursed by the company, the police said.
“Not only this, they took refund from food delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy in the name and bank details of innocent people and used the refund coupons for online shopping,” Agarwal added.
The commissioner said that ₹5.45 lakh, 11 mobiles, three credit cards, 17 SIM cards, two laptops, a scanner, a coloured printer, 45 PAN cards, six memory cards and 11 ATM cards have been recovered from the possession of the accused.
How to avoid falling prey to cyber fraudsters
Public
– Must not share Aadhaar/Pan card images on Whatsapp and/or Facebook or with unauthorised individuals
– Must not share OTP and bank account details with anyone
– Must only get Aadhaar card made only from authorised shops/individuals
Courier companies
– Should ensure that delivery person delivers the debit/credit card to the actual account holder after checking necessary ID proofs
– Should ensure debit/credit card is delivered at the exact mentioned address. Can use GPS to get exact coordinates of the delivery site
– Should sensitise and create awareness among delivery boys to identify and report suspicious addresses where multiple credit/debit cards are being delivered
Banks
– Should conduct physical KYC verification of new accounts within 1 month from account opening date
– Should ensure communication address in KYC forms is precise and detailed
Telecom companies
– Should obtain complete address and clear identity proofs while issuing new SIM cards
– Should flag individuals collecting multiple SIM cards on same address and ID proofs
Cab aggregators
– Should motivate drivers against sharing Aadhaar/Pan card details or OTP with any caller
