The Colaba police apprehended two individuals, one of whom is a Nepali citizen, for their involvement in cyber fraud, allegedly in collaboration with a Chinese national. Police discovered over Rs 4.50 crore in the account of one of the suspects. The duo was intercepted at the Indo-Nepal border. The cyber detection team from Colaba police station in Mumbai apprehended these individuals, including a Nepali national, for their alleged role in a significant cyber fraud operation that targeted numerous Indians.
The police arrested Chandra Shekhar, a Uttar Pradesh resident and Dilip Kumar Chai, native of Nepal, both have been active since two years. The police recovered almost five crores from Shekhar's account. This sum was accumulated after defrauding several people. He would make his unsuspecting victims deposit the amount on his different accounts.
An officer of Colaba police station said "The 4.50 crores we found in Shekhar's account is the money trail we followed. They were both arrested at the India-Nepal border with the help of Uttar Pradesh police.
Extent of Victim Impact And Cyber Fraud Tactics Unveiled
According to the National cyber crime reporting portal, we have at least 72 complainants who lost money to this fraud, these are the victims who came forward but there are several who still haven't complained. There are many banks in which Shekhar had accounts and the money came into those. These two accused would open new corporate accounts and a different team of callers was separate. We are yet to arrest them.
Police official told that their modus was clear, to lure people in the name of stocks by promising higher returns. The victims were added to a whatsapp group ' (057) momentum stock camp', where they were told about the benefits of investing in stocks and share trading. On whatsapp the victims were sent a link to download the 'Retail Home' app. Lure to earn more money in less time and dummy shares were shown. They complainants knew they were cheated after the arrested accused would accept money and stop communication.
Modus Operandi Of The Cyber Fraud Ring
Official added that Chai was in touch with the Chinese national and the details of freshly opened Indian corporate accounts- login, password, debit card, cheque books and sim cards would be shared. He sold all of these things to the chinese and per account, Chai would make anywhere between 1-3 lakhs, who later would give Shekhar a share. Chai would convince him to identify more people who could open accounts.
The duo has been remanded to police custody until April 16 and booked under relevant sections for cheating, common intention of IPC and Information Technology Act.
