The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested two persons, a middleman and a Delhi-based school teacher, who had allegedly duped a person on the pretext of helping him out in a money-laundering investigation connected to a Chinese-linked mobile phone app fraud, which has cases registered in several states.
The accused duo was remanded to ED’s custody by a Delhi court till March 2 and March 3, respectively. “The two accused had taken Rs2.6 crore from one of the accused in the Powerbank App, through illegal hawala channel on the pretext of getting his work done from ED,” an ED source said.
Initial complaint was filed with Delhi Police special cell
The initial complaint was filed with the Special Cell, Delhi Police. “ED took a serious note of the complaint and conducted searches at the premises of these two accused and arrested them in the matter after finding them involved in dealing with the proceeds of crime,” the ED source said.
From its searches conducted in the case, the agency recovered cash worth Rs 47.5 lakh, forged summons/notices, duplicate official stamps, and digital data pertaining to huge cash transactions pertaining to cheating and fraud.
The mobile phone app fraud refers to the alleged siphoning of public money worth Rs 250 crore by Chinese national/s in the Powerbank app case, in which victims lost their investments. “Several First Information Reports (FIRs) in different states have been filed in this case in various states and a large number of people have been duped,” the ED source said.
Mumbai Police alerts citizens
According to Cyber Crime Cell under Crime Branch of Mumbai police , the most common form of online frauds are related to banks, online commerce platforms where fraudsters, posing as bank/platform officials, convince the victim to share OTP, KYC updates and sometimes send the links to be clicked to access bank accounts.
“People should know that no bank or institution is authorised to demand for bank details or PIN numbers. Unfortunately, educated people are falling prey to online frauds and losing lakhs of rupees,” explained DCP Cyber Crime, Balsingh Rajput.
Online Banking Fraud |
