Mumbai: The South Mumbai Cyber Cell arrested another accused in connection with the ₹20 crore fraud case involving an elderly woman. The arrested suspect, identified as Hrithik Shekhar Thakur (25), was apprehended from the Andheri area.
According to a Cyber Cell officer, Thakur rented out his bank account to the cyber criminals, allowing them to deposit the fraudulently acquired money. During the investigation, it was revealed that ₹9 lakh from the ₹20 crore scam was transferred to Thakur's account. He later transferred the amount to co-accused Rajik Ajan Butt, receiving a commission in return.
The investigation also revealed that ₹4.99 lakh was transferred into the bank account of Shayan Jamil Sheikh, who was arrested earlier. Sheikh subsequently transferred the amount to Butt and received a ₹10,000 commission for his involvement.
During interrogation, Butt confessed that he was using a gaming app to receive the fraudulently obtained money into his account. He also operated a chat group with 12 foreign nationals, where he shared information about 14 bank accounts used for money laundering.
The Cyber Cell discovered that Butt used the alias "Dawood Ibrahim" on Truecaller to deceive and intimidate his victims. The stolen money was handed over to another accused, Ryan Sheikh, who converted the funds into cryptocurrency and transferred them to various crypto wallets.
The Cyber Cell is actively searching for Ryan Sheikh, who is believed to be a key player in converting and laundering the stolen money through cryptocurrency transactions. The Cyber Cell is continuing its investigation into the ₹20 crore scam, tracing the financial trail and identifying other suspects and international links involved in the massive cyber fraud.
