Cops bust massive cyber fraud racket after ₹5 crore tax shock hits job-seeking woman

Alarmed by the high-stakes notice, Gaus insisted she had no knowledge of the accounts or transactions in question. Her only link to the mess: she had once submitted her personal documents to strangers who had promised her a job

MUMBAI: A 20-year-old woman’s panic over an unexpected Income Tax (I-T) notice has led the Malwani police in Malad to uncover a sprawling cybercrime racket involving fake job promises, identity theft, and fraudulent banking operations. Acting on her complaint, officers seized a staggering 115 bank passbooks, 271 debit and credit cards, 204 SIM cards, and cash amounting to ₹80,000.

Cops bust massive cyber fraud racket after ₹5 crore tax shock hits job-seeking woman

The case unravelled on April 3 when Tamanna Gaus, a resident of Gosalia Compound in Malwani, Malad West, approached the police. She had received a tax demand notice from the Income Tax Department, holding her accountable for unreported cash deposits totalling ₹5 crore in multiple bank accounts she claimed she never opened.

Alarmed by the high-stakes notice, Gaus insisted she had no knowledge of the accounts or transactions in question. Her only link to the mess: she had once submitted her personal documents to strangers who had promised her a job.

“She was visibly distressed and kept saying she had never seen ₹5 crore, let alone handled it. That’s when we knew there was more to the story,” said a senior police officer.

An FIR was registered against unknown persons under section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, including 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation).

Investigators traced the trail back to two young men—Abhishek Pandey, 21, of Borivali West, and Akash Vishwakarma, 22, of Kandivali East—who were swiftly picked up for questioning. The duo allegedly acted as “bank account providers” to cybercriminals, collecting identity documents from unsuspecting individuals under the pretext of job offers.

“Pandey and Vishwakarma opened numerous bank accounts using fake identities—often with the help of women impersonating the original document holders,” said the officer. “These accounts were then handed over to cyber frauds, many operating from abroad, who used them to launder money obtained through scams impersonating government or bank officials.”

The racket’s scale became evident during the raid: laptops, SIM cards, passbooks, and hundreds of debit and credit cards were recovered. According to investigators, the arrested men not only exploited Gaus’s identity but are suspected to have duped many others similarly.

“We believe they ran a full-fledged operation collecting CVs and KYC documents by promising employment. Victims never realised their identities were being weaponised for organised cyber fraud,” said the officer. “We’re now investigating links to international fraud networks.”

Pandey and Vishwakarma have been remanded to police custody for five days. Investigations are ongoing to trace the rest of the syndicate and identify how many more victims unknowingly became fronts for cybercrime.