New Delhi, Nov 10: The Delhi Police has arrested two alleged kingpins of a Jamtara-based cyber fraud network who had been absconding for over five years in a case involving the siphoning off of Rs 27.10 lakh through a fake bank website, an official said on Tuesday.
The accused, Md Mehruddin Ansari (30) and Md Arsad Ansari (29), surrendered before a court at Patiala House on October 30 and were subsequently arrested, he said.
"The case dates back to July 2021, when a complaint was filed by Bishwajeet Paul, who was allegedly duped after searching for Canara Bank's customer care number on Google in connection with a cheque-related query," police said in a statement.
The complainant contacted a number displayed in the search results and was subsequently sent a link to a fraudulent website -- customercomplaintregisters.com -- designed to resemble the official Canara Bank website, police said.
After entering his bank account details on the website on the caller's instructions, an application was downloaded onto his mobile phone. Subsequently, Rs 27.10 lakh was fraudulently transferred from his account to eight different bank accounts, they said.
An FIR was registered at the Special Cell police station on July 8, 2021, and an investigation was initiated.
The probe revealed that the accused were allegedly key members of a cyber fraud network involved in creating fake websites resembling those of reputed banks and running fraudulent customer care services through Google advertisements.
The gang allegedly placed online advertisements displaying fake customer care numbers. When unsuspecting customers contacted these numbers, their calls were either handled by the fraudsters or transferred to other associates for a fee. Victims were then induced to share their banking credentials through fraudulent links, enabling the gang to siphon off money, police said.
"Investigators found that the fake Canara Bank website used to dupe the complainant was allegedly designed by Mehruddin and Arsad Ansari, both residents of Jamtara district in Jharkhand," a senior police officer said.
Eight accused had earlier been arrested in the case, including those allegedly involved in arranging and operating beneficiary bank accounts and facilitating the withdrawal and transfer of the cheated money. A chargesheet was filed against two of them, while six others were subsequently arrested and are currently out on regular bail, police said.
However, Mehruddin and Arsad had been evading arrest despite repeated raids. Non-bailable warrants had also been issued against them by the court, they added.
Both accused have studied up to matriculation and allegedly played key roles in designing fraudulent banking websites and facilitating fake customer care operations, police said.
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(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)
