Cyber Fraud Racket Spanning 21 States Busted, Police Trace ₹72-Crore Fraud Trail

Police have busted an interstate cyber-fraud racket with the arrest of six persons, uncovering links to 255 complaints across the country involving an estimated ₹72 crore, an official said on Thursday.

The investigation began after an accountant approached the police, alleging that he had been duped into transferring ₹10 lakh by a person impersonating the owner of the company where he worked.

The accountant received a WhatsApp message on July 30 from an unknown number displaying his employer’s photograph as the profile picture. Following his complaint, a case was registered at Mulund police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, the official said.

Technical analysis of bank transactions and mobile numbers revealed that ₹5.50 lakh of the defrauded amount had been transferred to a bank account in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and subsequently withdrawn through a cheque.

A police team arrested three suspects in Meerut. Further interrogation led to the arrest of three more persons from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Vadodara in Gujarat and Kandivali in north Mumbai. Police seized ₹5.50 lakh and five mobile phones during the operation.

Further examination of 11 bank accounts found on one suspect’s mobile phone revealed links to 182 cyber-fraud complaints across 21 states. Another suspect’s phone contained details of 49 bank accounts connected to 73 cybercrime complaints, taking the total to 255 cases involving an estimated ₹72 crore, the official said.

According to investigators, the accused used Telegram groups to buy and sell bank accounts and SIM cards to facilitate the fraud.

They allegedly installed malicious Android application package (APK) files on account holders’ mobile devices to gain control and receive fraudulent funds. The money was routed through multiple bank accounts before being withdrawn in cash or converted into USDT, a cryptocurrency linked to the US dollar.