Sonepat: Gang of cyber criminals busted, nine arrested

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Sonepat, July 14

With the arrest of nine accused from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the cyber team claimed to have busted an inter-state cyber-criminal gang who duped people of Rs 47 crore by luring them into investing in the share market.

Prabina P, Deputy Commissioner of Police, East and Cyber, said Lokesh of Omax City in his complaint to the cyber police on January 24 said during the first week of October 2023, he came in contact with a broker, named Anand, who was pretending to be an employee of Excel Stock Broking, Kolkata, and associated with the firm, Stock Benefit. He promised to cover his losses in the Indian market by investing in the foreign exchange market through the platform, Grow Trade (www.growfxtrade.com), which also had an Android application attached.

She said Lokesh in his complaint said, “They kept in touch with me through their WhatsApp contact. Initially on October 18, 2023, I deposited Rs 1,82,000 in two transactions on this platform. Later, profits accumulated with subsequent tradings. When I tried to withdraw the amount, they asked me to pay a tax on the portfolio on October 27, 2023, on the amount of Rs 7,77,403 from the e-mail ID. Despite that, I was unable to withdraw the money. I was then told that I would get the money within 48 hours, after which the company again began its trading. The same process happened twice, wherein I paid the tax but for some reason or the other I could not withdraw the money. Till January18, they defrauded me of Rs 47.38 lakh.”

Following the complaint, a case was registered at the cyber police station and a probe is underway.

Prabina P further said the cyber team headed by Inspector Basant Kumar, SHO, Cyber police station, arrested nine cyber criminals.

She said the accused were identified as Aman Kaishri and Prateek Gupta of Varanasi, Pradeep Yadav, Deepak Yadav, Atishi Yadav and Yeswant Prajapati of Ajamgarh, Harsh Morya of Chandoli, Akash Singh of Gazipur and Aditya Sahi of Gorakhpur.

The cyber team recovered Rs 5.47 lakh from the accused and an FD of Rs 4.60 lakh was seized. Apart from these, 16 mobile phones, 44 SIM cards, 59 SIM envelopes, eight empty mobile phone boxes were recovered from the accused, she said.

The DCP said the accused were sent to police remand on the orders of the court and after interrogation, all were sent to judicial custody. As per the data received, a total of 207 complaints and cases, were registered against the accused across India, she said.