South Mumbai ₹3.98 crore cyber fraud: Dubai-based operator of racket arrested from Kerala

Police officials said that Abubakar was operating this racket from Dubai for over five years. He is a native of Kozhikode, Kerala, and had come to India to celebrate Bakri Eid when police picked him up

MUMBAI: The south cyber police arrested an accused, identified as Mohammad Abubakar, from Kerala in connection with a recent cyber fraud case of ₹ 3.98 crore. The accused, who was operating a cyber fraud racket from Dubai, had called up a senior citizen of South Mumbai on his WhatsApp number, identifying himself falsely as a customs officer. He had then accused the senior citizen of being involved in a money laundering case and had forced him to deposit money in different accounts, threatening him with legal action otherwise.

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Police officials said that Abubakar was operating this racket from Dubai for over five years. He is a native of Kozhikode, Kerala, and had come to India to celebrate Bakri Eid when police picked him up. A notebook with bank accounts records and two phones were seized from the accused’s possession.

The 72-year-old complainant lives in the CP Tank area. He had lodged a police complaint against “unknown persons” under the charges of cheating and IT Act, last month. He alleged that a person, claiming himself as a “Naresh” called him on WhatsApp posing as a custom officer and accused him of money laundering, and threatened him with legal action if he did not pay up.

In police interrogation, it has come to light that not only Abubakar but even one of his associates from Dubai had called up the senior citizen, using an app, and had made him sit in front of a video call for hours on the pretext of interrogation. He told the unsuspecting victim that he was calling from the agency’s office even as 2-3 people in uniform could be seen in the background. Taking this for real and getting scared, the complainant paid ₹ 3.98 crore between April 26 and May 8.

After the case was registered in south cyber, police started investigating and found out the details of the bank accounts to which the complainant had transferred the money. The first accused, Anup Kumar Kurikotal, 45, a native of Kannur district in Kerala, was arrested on June 20 while checking the bank accounts. Anup’s job was to open accounts in the names of people in Mumbai and Kerala where the victim transferred the money. He then withdrew the money and sent it to Dubai through hawala. At that time, he used to stay in the Masjid Bunder area in a rented house for short periods to manage the money.

Police also found out that Anup had created 42 such bank accounts and all the money deposited were sourced through cyber frauds.

While interrogating Anup, police also managed to get the details of Abubakar and arrested him from his native place, where he had come for Eid. He was brought to Mumbai on Thursday and produced in the court which remanded him to police custody till June 30.