Mumbai: Goa’s coastal resorts and luxury villas have emerged as a major hub for allegedly routing money generated through cyber fraud, with the Mumbai Crime Branch busting two separate gangs operating from the state in the past two months.
Police Probe Reveals Over ₹1,000 Crore Transactions Through Mule Accounts
According to police, both gangs were allegedly operating from Goa and were involved in illegally transferring proceeds of cyber fraud through mule bank accounts. The two gangs, both allegedly linked to Gujarat, are suspected to have connections with international cybercrime networks.
Police said the two operations have revealed that more than ₹1,000 crore was allegedly transferred through various mule bank accounts over the past six months.
12 Arrested In Calangute Villa Cyber Fraud Operation
12 Arrested in Calangute Villa Operation : In one of the operations, Crime Branch Unit-2 busted an alleged international cyber fraud and illegal online gambling racket operating from a luxury villa in Calangute, Goa.
Police raided the villa and arrested 12 persons. During the investigation, police found that the gang had allegedly routed more than ₹500 crore generated through cyber fraud through various bank accounts over the past six months.
₹100 Crore Allegedly Frozen During Investigation
The Crime Branch also managed to immediately freeze around ₹100 crore lying in the bank accounts allegedly linked to the racket.
Seven Arrested in Second Goa Villa Operation : Following this operation, Crime Branch Unit-5 busted another alleged international cyber fraud racket operating from a luxury villa in Goa and arrested seven persons. The accused were brought to Mumbai, and the investigation revealed that the gang had allegedly cheated victims across the country of around ₹400 crore, police said.
Second Goa Villa Operation Leads To Seven Arrests
The accused have been identified as Tejaskumar Hasmukhlal Dabghar (36), Piyushbhai Ishwarbhai Chavda (19), Jitendrasingh Mobatsingh Rajput (27), Dalpatsingh Bamarsingh Rajput (28), Vanrajsingh Jaypalsingh Vaghela (21), Yogeshkumar Arvindbhai Patel (26), and Gautam Tejabhai Mali alias Lucifer alias Gattu (25).
The latest operation followed the arrest of three persons from a residential society in Malad who were allegedly involved in arranging mule bank accounts used to route proceeds of cyber fraud. Information obtained during their interrogation helped investigators trace the Goa-based operation.
Orders Allegedly Received From Dubai : According to DCP Raj Tilak Roushan, all seven accused are originally from Ahmedabad, Mehsana and Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The accused, aged between 20 and 30 years, are educated up to Classes 10 to 12. Police said the accused had been staying in different villas in Goa for the past few months and allegedly operating the fraud network from these locations.
The investigation revealed that the accused allegedly used an application developed by themselves to transfer and route the proceeds of fraud. They allegedly received instructions directly from masterminds based in Dubai, following which the fraud proceeds were transferred through multiple bank accounts in a layered manner.
No Direct Link Between the Two Gangs : Police have clarified that although the modus operandi of the two gangs was similar, there is currently no evidence of a direct link between them. Investigators are continuing efforts to identify the Dubai-based masterminds and other persons allegedly involved in the networks.
The two separate operations have brought to light the growing use of Goa’s coastal resorts and private villas as bases for cybercrime-related money transfers, according to the Mumbai Crime Branch.
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