Bengaluru: Ten individuals involved in providing bank accounts to cyber fraudsters operating abroad have been arrested by the North Division CEN police station. These fraudsters duped victims of lakhs of rupees by advertising fake stock investment schemes, police said.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Srinivas Reddy (43), Akash (27), Prakash (43), Sunil Kumar (45), Sai Prajwal (38), Ravishankar (24), Madhusudan Reddy (41), Suresh (43), Kishore Kumar (29), and Obul Reddy (29), all residents of Bengaluru.
The investigation revealed that the complainant, a techie, lost Rs 88.83 lakh after clicking on a stock investment advertisement link on Facebook. Among the arrested, Ravishankar, who previously worked in Dubai, had connections with cyber fraudsters there.
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The accused reportedly cheated a software engineer of Rs 88.83 lakh. The primary masterminds are said to be based in Dubai.
Police seized 51 mobile phones, 27 debit cards, 108 bank passbooks and chequebooks, 480 SIM cards, 2 laptops, 2 CPUs, 48 account QR codes, 42 rubber stamps, 103 Udyam and GST documents, and 230 current account records from the accused, revealed Bengaluru Police Commissioner, B Dayananda.
Fraud Operated from Two Offices in Bengaluru
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He later returned to Bengaluru and collaborated with the other accused to open bank accounts in the names of innocent individuals by luring them with commissions. The fraudsters used Aadhaar and PAN cards of these individuals to set up accounts and sold them to Dubai-based fraudsters.
They then distributed fraudulent investment links on social media, convincing victims that their investment returns would double, thereby defrauding them. To execute this scam, the accused set up two offices, one in Thyagarajanagar and another in Sadashivanagar.
Rs 1 Lakh Commission for Rs 1 Crore Transactions
The Dubai-based fraudsters paid the accused a commission of Rs 1 lakh for every Rs 1 crore transferred through these accounts, police said, adding that this racket had been operating for the past two to three years.
Investigations revealed that the fraudulent accounts used in this scheme have been linked to 1,467 NCRP complaints across the country. Of these, 15 NCRP cases were registered with the North Division CEN police station, Commissioner Dayananda added.
Additional Commissioner of Police Satish Kumar, CCB Chief Chandragupta, DCP Saidulla Adavath, ACP N Pavan, PSI Raju, and other officers were present at the briefing.