Seven members of inter-state gang of cyber fraudsters held

The Ambala police have arrested seven members of an inter-state gang of cyber fraudsters for allegedly duping an Ambala resident of Rs 26.57 lakh. The accused were identified as Sumit, Narendra, Harshit, Shailendra, Gaurav, Hardik and Devesh and they belong to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Gurugram and used to operate from Gurugram.

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Accused Gaurav was a private bank employee and used to provide bank accounts for the fraudulent activities. Sumit, Narendra, Harshit, and Shailendra were arrested on March 25 and on their disclosure, Gaurav, Hardik and Devesh were arrested on March 27. While Harshit, Gaurav and Shailendra have been sent to jail today, the other four have been taken on five-day police remand.

As per the Ambala police, there were 27 cases registered in different states, including Haryana, West Bengal, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, against the accused. Surinder Singh Bhoria, SP, said, “The cyber fraud cases are on the rise. In one such incident, a resident of Sector 8 in Ambala was duped of Rs 26.57 lakh on the pretext of investments in stock market and trading. The amount was taken over a period of one month, and a case was registered at the cyber crime police station in June last year. During investigation, seven members of this inter-state gang have been arrested.”

“About Rs 13.74 lakh, 25 ATM cards, a money counting machine, seven mobile phones and six cheque books have been seized from the accused. The accused used to open dummy accounts in the name of poor people and operate those accounts. After getting the amount in the accounts, they used to transfer the amount further into other accounts and then withdrew the money from ATMs,” he added.

“The fraudsters use new techniques and methods to dupe people and even the well-educated people got duped by these cyber fraudsters. People shouldn’t share their OTPs and personal details with anyone and avoid investing money online by getting lucrative offers. If a person has been cheated, the victim should raise the complaint at the earliest and also alert the National Cyber Helpline,” the Ambala SP said.