Delhi Police has arrested two men for allegedly facilitating a mule bank account used

New Delhi: Delhi Police has arrested two men for allegedly facilitating a mule bank account used in a scholarship fraud that targeted residents of Tamil Nadu .

The investigation led police to Sachin Sharma (29), a resident of Khichripur. Sachin was arrested on Oct 17. He allegedly told police that he withdrew Rs 10,000, transferred Rs 8,000 through UPI and received Rs 3,000 as commission, claiming he was unaware that the money was linked to cyber fraud. Acting on his disclosure, police arrested Sumit on Oct 21 and recovered a mobile phone from him. The device contained files with details of around 54,000 contacts, including that of the complainant. Investigators alleged that the contact databases had been sent to Sumit via WhatsApp by a woman on Aug 6. Police advised citizens to verify scholarship offers before making payments and report cyber fraud through helpline 1930 or the cybercrime.gov.in portal.

“He subsequently reported the fraud on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

An FIR was registered at Cyber Police Station, East,” the DCP said. The bank account belonged to his sister, Shivani, who told investigators that she had given him her ATM card, according to police. During questioning, he allegedly told police that the group targeted Tamil-speaking families whose children had completed school and were seeking higher education, using scholarship offers as bait. Police said Sumit was allegedly instructed to print the database and arrange a bank account to receive the proceeds of the fraud, which were later handed over to the woman and one of her associates.

The money trail led police to a bank account from which the amount was withdrawn through an ATM in east Delhi . Bank records and CCTV footage from the ATM where the money was withdrawn helped identify him. During questioning, Sachin allegedly disclosed that he had provided the ATM card and UPI credentials to Sumit , a resident of Trilokpuri, in exchange for a commission.