Cops in Haryana’s Nuh bust 28,000 cyber fraud cases across country

On April 28, raids were conducted across 14 villages of Nuh district with 102 teams of 5,000 policemen detaining 125 persons

Gurugram: Two weeks after Nuh police conducted raids across villages of the district, officers have unearthed 28,000 cybercrime fraud cases across the country to the tune of ₹100 crore, said police.

Police said that during analysis of records, it was found that suspects have so far defrauded around 28,000 people from across the country, to the tune of more than ₹100 crore. (Image for representation)

Police said they conducted investigation based on SIM cards retrieved during the raids in Nuh last month. They coordinated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) of the union home ministry and requested information on fake bank accounts, SIMs, mobile phones etc. used by the suspects.

Varun Singla, superintendent of police, Nuh, said that during analysis of records, it was found that suspects have so far defrauded around 28,000 people from across the country, to the tune of more than ₹100 crore. “Already 1,346 FIRs have been registered against these suspects across the country. Their details are being sent to senior police authorities of the states concerned,” Singla said.

He added that the number of cases were identified after coordination with the states and respective districts. The location of the callers was traced to Nuh. “We had already written to police teams of other states seeking locations of the mobile numbers used in fraud cases. Accordingly, they were traced to Nuh and cases were registered. The suspects had presence in several states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Mizoram and West Bengal. Hundreds of SIM cards have been recovered that were disposed of in the villages,” he said.

On April 28, raids were conducted across 14 villages of Nuh district with 102 teams of 5,000 policemen detaining 125 persons. “Out of these, 66 suspects were arrested. All were produced in the court and taken on remand,” he said.

Police said that during questioning, the suspects revealed that they used to cheat people using fake SIMs, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and other identity cards. They used to deposit money in private bank accounts opened online or through forged ID cards to avoid arrest.

Singla said that after the arrest Haryana director general of police (DGP) PK Agrawal had deployed a team of 40 cyber experts from across Haryana to question the suspects and know their modus operandi. “They also revealed how they used to procure SIM cards in bulk using forged IDs,” he said.

Police said the mobile phones and SIM cards seized during the raid were also examined and relevant details were also sought from telephone and internet service providers, banks, payment systems and social media companies among others.

The investigation also revealed information about 219 bank accounts and 140 UPI accounts used for the frauds. These bank accounts were activated online and by defrauding people on the pretext of providing jobs. Police said the suspects would take their credentials and get an online verification done.

Singla said that across the country, the suspects targetted most number of people from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Telangana, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Apart from this, 347 SIM cards activated from circles of telecom companies in Haryana, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, the Northeast, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have also been unearthed. During the investigation, police linked the source of fake SIMs and bank accounts to Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

Singla said that in 16 cases registered in Nuh district, 250 wanted suspects have been identified who were close aides of those already arrested. “Of these, 20 are from Rajasthan, 19 from Uttar Pradesh and 211 from Haryana. The suspects are all aged between 18 and 35 years,” he said.