Pan-India ‘digital arrest’ scam busted, 5 in police net

The Delhi Police claimed to have busted a pan-India ‘digital arrest’ scam, arresting five persons for duping over 400 people, they said on Monday.

Lokesh Gupta was arrested from Mukundpur in Delhi, Manoj Chaudhary from Hapur, Mohit Jain, alias Rinku, and Keshav Kumar from Greater Noida and Saif Ali from Shahdara.

The police seized 14 mobile phones, 40 cheque books, 33 SIM cards, fake documents and a luxury car from their possession.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said the case came to light when a woman was told that her Aadhaar card details were being used by criminals.

“The complainant said she received a call from a person posing as a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer and later claiming to be the Deputy Commissioner of Police. She was told that her Aadhaar card details were used in criminal activities and was threatened with legal action if she did not cooperate. She was directed to join a Skype ID (NCB Department) where the fraudsters showed fake ID cards and letters to make the scam appear genuine,” Valsan added.

Under pressure, the complainant was induced to share her bank details, debit card images and OTPs. The accused transferred Rs 89,286 from her account and later took a personal loan of Rs 19,92,921 in her name. She was forced to transfer the loan amount to an account in the name of M/s Lokeaj Innovation Private Limited,” the DCP said.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered and an investigation was launched. The police team conducted raids in Delhi, Hapur and Greater Noida.

With the help of technical surveillance, call detail analysis and ground intelligence, Lokesh was arrested from Jantavihar, Mukundpur, Delhi. He revealed that two shell companies were opened and he, along with another accused Ajay Kumar, was made the director of the firms.

Lokesh further disclosed that he gave all documents of bank accounts to Deepak Goyal and Manoj Chaudhary.

Further, Manoj was arrested from Hapur (UP), Mohit Jain and Keshav Kumar were arrested from Gaurcity Mall, Greater Noida, UP.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were part of a pan-India organised fraud syndicate, which systematically misled people by opening shell firms and bank accounts in the name of the companies.

Mohit disclosed that he used to get 2 to 3 per cent commission of the fraud amount received in these bank accounts and further provided money to mule account holders.

The DCP also mentioned that this year, 473 cyber fraud complaints related to these accounts were reported on the Cyber Crime Portal, of which 24 cases were from Delhi.