Hyderabad: Cybercrime Police of Hyderabad have arrested two persons who allegedly collected about 70 mule accounts and provided them to cybercriminals.
These accounts were allegedly involved in 450 cybercrime cases across India involving transactions amounting to about Rs 60-70 crore, police said on Sunday, October 11.
The accused have been identified as Gumma Ramesh, 39, and Mudale Anil, 19, both residents of Ramanthapur in Hyderabad.
The arrests were made in connection with a case in which they committed fraud in the name of fake old currency through social media on Facebook.
The victim had complained that unknown persons cheated him on the pretext of offering Rs 45 lakh for an old one-rupee currency note and collected an amount of Rs 7,93,351. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 66 C, 66D of the IT Act and sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 340(2) of BNS.
During interrogation, the accused persons confessed their involvement in the commission of the offence.
According to S Chaitanya Kumar, in-charge, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cybercrime Police Station, the accused told police that as the income earned by them was insufficient to meet their personal expenses and other financial needs, they had decided to provide mule bank accounts and SIM cards to cybercriminals in exchange for substantial commissions.
Ramesh, who was previously residing in Bidar district, Karnataka, shifted to Hyderabad due to financial difficulties and was working as a cab driver. He allegedly developed contacts with cyber fraudsters. Subsequently, he, along with an absconding accused, approached students, delivery partners, and other persons in and around the Ramanthapur area and induced around 60-70 persons to provide their bank accounts and SIM cards in exchange for commissions.
After collecting the bank account passbooks, ATM/debit cards, internet banking credentials, and SIM cards from them, he couriered the same to persons in Haryana State for use in committing cybercrime offences.
Through the collection of SIM cards and bank accounts, the main accused are suspected of having defrauded hundreds of victims, with transactions amounting to approximately Rs 60-70 crore.
The second accused, Anil, opened three savings bank accounts in different banks in return for a commission from Ramesh and also handed over the account-related credentials to him.
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