Gang that hired unemployed youth to execute interstate cyber fraud busted

Navi Mumbai police bust an inter-state gang using unemployed youth for online fraud, arresting 11 and uncovering extensive fraudulent operations.

Navi Mumbai: An inter-state gang that allegedly executed online financial fraud using unemployed youth from across several states was busted by the Navi Mumbai police. The youth were employed to open bank accounts using their identity particulars, which were then used by the gang of fraudsters.

Gang that hired unemployed youth to execute interstate cyber fraud busted

“Financially struggling youth belonging to the age group of 18 to 25 years were hired from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. These youngsters were paid ₹1,000 per day. Their personal details and official documents were used to open current bank accounts with 10 different banks in Mumbai. These accounts were then used for cyber fraud,” said an investigating officer of the police.

The Panvel cyber police was investigating a case of a 39-year-old Merchant Navy officer who was allegedly conned of ₹10 lakh after he had befriended a woman on a dating app. According to the complaint filed on August 5, a woman, identified only as ‘Emily’, matched with the merchant navy officer and convinced him to invest in trading by signing up on a website where she said he could get hefty returns. Within 10 days of befriending the woman, the man had invested ₹10 lakh. “Following his complaint, the bank details were checked, and it took us to a bank in Vasai-Virar. A tile shop, within 100 metres of the Vasai-Virar railway station, was raided, and the gang was busted,” said an officer. A fake tile shop named FSD emart Tile Shop was set up by the accused near the railway station, it had a few tiles stocked inside to convince the bank officials of a business running there.

The main accused, identified as Sandesh alias Himanshu Dinesh Kumar Jain, 22, from Rajasthan and Sudheer Jain alias Yogesh Parasmal Jain, 34, from Naigaon (Palghar), were nabbed from Vasai-Virar. While Sandesh is third-year B Com student, Sudheer was an unemployed graduate. The gang was busted on October 15.

Additionally, nine men who were in the fake tile shop working for the accused were also arrested. In a bag that belonged to one of the accused, the police found 52 debit cards of different banks, 18 mobile phones, 17 cheque books, 15 SIM cards, eight Aadhaar cards, seven PAN cards, three driving license, two voter IDs and fake business visiting cards.

The investigation revealed the extent of the gang’s activity till Rajasthan. According to the officer, the modus-operandi was to get bank-issued debit cards, cheque books and other documents, and then courier them to Udaipur via train. “There was another team in Udaipur who used the cheque books and debit cards in getting money transferred from those cheated online,” the officer added. Their target victims were people like the merchant navy officer, who were in search of an online income.

All the accused are arrested under section 318 (4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property)of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and 66D (cheating by impersonation) of the IT Act and remanded to police custody till Monday.

Further investigations are underway to locate the team that was tasked with directly calling potential victims and luring them into scams.