Hyderabad: The Cyber Crime Police of Hyderabad have apprehended four persons allegedly involved in an online trading fraud. They allegedly opened mule bank accounts and made commissions for giving them to cyber fraudsters to route crime proceeds.
The unit received a complaint on April 4 this year from a woman who said she was contacted through WhatsApp and was induced into investing in trading platforms. She was thus cheated of Rs 37,40,000, she alleged.
They registered a case under Sections 66(C) (punishment for use of the electronic signature, password, or any other unique identification feature of any other person), 66(D) (punishment for using a communication device or computer resource to cheat by personation) of the IT Act, 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (forgery), and 340(2) (deliberate use of forged document) of the BNS.
Police apprehended Maroju Subramanya Chari, Gedela Nani, and Alamanda Manikanta at Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. Further enquiry led them to Pocharam in Hyderabad, where they apprehended Panduraju Abhishek.
Investigation revealed that Abhishek was facing financial difficulties, and he came in contact with a Chinese national through WhatsApp.
Modus operandi
In exchange for mule bank accounts and SIM cards, he was allegedly offered a commission as a percentage of the total transactions in those accounts.
Abhishek then allegedly approached the other three men for mule bank accounts and SIM cards and offered them Rs 10,000 for each bank account.
After collecting bank account credentials and SIM cards, Abhishek would allegedly insert SIMs into his mobile phone and transfer cybercrime proceeds from these accounts to other mule bank accounts, as instructed by the Chinese national.
He allegedly earned a commission of 4 per cent of the amount transferred and would withdraw this amount through ATMs. Police seized nine mobile phones, 10 debit cards, six bank passbooks and eight cheque books from Abhishek.
The investigation revealed that approximately 54 cases have been registered across India in connection with the alleged fraud, involving suspected fraudulent transactions amounting to approximately Rs 10 crore.
