Patiala police bust international cyber fraud gang, 4 arrested

The Patiala police have busted an international cyber fraud gang.

Under the guidance and supervision of Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, IPS, the cyber crime team of Patiala Police, led by Tarandeep Kaur, SHO PS Cyber Crime Patiala, busted a Patiala-based gang that was providing bank accounts and mobile SIMs to Philippines-based cyber fraudsters in lieu of money. Four members of the gang have been arrested so far.

The gang comprising of Pankaj, Arshdeep and Manga Singh (all residents of Patiala) lured youngsters for opening new bank accounts in their name on the pretext of creating salary accounts for a fictitious new job. “The ATM card and Net Banking details of the account were kept by the gang. These accounts and their details were then sold to Philippines-based cyber fraudsters Babu and Sumi, who are also of Punjabi origin. One saving bank account was sold for 10,000 each whereas a current bank account was sold for Rs 40,000 each”, said the SSP.

So far, more than 30 such bank accounts have been sold to the Philippines-based fraudsters, which have been used to route crores of fraud money within a few months.

“Complete transaction details of these mule bank accounts are being obtained. The gang also operated an unauthorised de-addiction centre on Chaura Road, Patiala, for some time and the drug addicts were lured with Rs 500 per SIM to purchase new SIMs in their name and provide to the gang. These SIMs were then sent to Philippines through courier by sewing them in folds of T-shirts”, said Tarandeep Kaur.

“So far, this gang has sent around 50 SIMs through couriers to Philippines. These SIMs are used by cyber fraudsters to call people in India for committing cyber fraud with them. All these SIM cards were purchased without proper verification from a single shop named Digital Zone,” said police.

The owner of the shop Birbal has also been arrested. An FIR under Sections 316(2), 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340 (2), 351 (2), 61 (2) BNS and 66 C of the IT Act has been registered at PS Cyber Crime, Patiala.

Further investigation is on to obtain complete details about Babu and Sumi to unearth the complete nexus.