Two Gujarat men, two others held for cyber fraud in Varanasi

They lured common people into opening bank accounts on the pretext of investment; used it to transfer extortion money

Four cyber criminals, including the kingpin, who cheated people by opening bank accounts through their IDs and later used it to commit crimes like digital arrest, were arrested here on Friday.

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Six android mobile phones, 20 ATM cards of different banks, 10 sim cards, and 14 passbooks were recovered from their possession, added police.

The arrested criminals have been identified as Patelia Dishant Kiritbhai (32) and Deepak Dinesh Bhai Jogiya ( 32 ), both residents of Jamnagar Gujarat, and Satyam Mishra (19) of Varanasi and Nitin Pandey (22) of Bhadohi.

The arrest was made on the complaint of one Vishal Singh, a resident of Harhua, Varanasi who, on October 23, gave a written information at Cyber Crime Police Station that cyber criminals had opened accounts in various banks through his identity while making false promises of business investment.

He alleged that huge transactions were taking place in those bank accounts which have now been frozen by the police.

Investigation by police revealed the involvement of four cyber criminals and they were arrested, said deputy commissioner of police Pramod Kumar.

The officer said that during interrogation, the arrested accused revealed that they formed syndicates in various cities through which bank accounts were opened in various banks by luring gullible people in the name of business investment. Internet banking was activated in those accounts.

The crimes like digital house arrest were committed in connivance with cyber criminals based in Dubai. The accused used to get 30 percent of the money transferred in the accounts through means of extortion, the police added.

Probe was conducted by inspector Vijay Narayan Mishra while further investigation is underway.