On Friday, police in Jhansi arrested six members of a cyber fraud syndicate. The group is accused of converting the proceeds from online fraud into USDT (Tether), a type of cryptocurrency, and transferring these funds to foreign handlers. This operation aimed to obscure the money trail and protect the perpetrators from detection. Authorities have identified a money trail amounting to Rs 403 crore, linked to over 325 cyber complaints filed across the country.
They used to receive the money in 56 different mule accounts and subsequently get it converted into cryptocurrency (USDT) with the help of their foreign handlers based in Southeast Asian countries. The accused were identified as Deepak Verma alias Satyam, the kingpin; Adnan Husain; Aadil Husain; Janpal; Abhishek Chaudhary; and Archit Agarwal, all aged between 23 and 25 years and residents of Jhansi. Police recovered 500 USDT, along with seven mobile phones and registers containing details of the fraud. Police were investigating the matter by taking into account more than 325 cyber complaints across the country and unearthed transactions involving a money trail worth Rs 403 crore. All the accused have been booked under Sections 112(2), 318(4) and 317(5) of the BNS.
You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kanpur | Silver Rate in Kanpur | Bank Holidays in Kanpur | Public Holidays in Kanpur | Kanpur AQI | Weather in Kanpur | Petrol Price in Kanpur | Diesel Price in Kanpur | CNG Price in Kanpur | LPG Price in Kanpur Stay updated with the latest Kanpur news.
ASP Areeba Nomaan said all the accused, most of whom are students, used to dupe people across the country through Chinese gaming apps. Police said the accused had been repeatedly routing the fraud proceeds through the mule accounts over a period of time before converting the money into USDT and transferring it to foreign handlers. ASP Nomaan said the investigation was underway to establish the complete money trail and identify other people involved in the network. “Further investigation is being carried out to trace the remaining members of the syndicate and determine the extent of their involvement in the alleged fraud,” Nomaan said.
The arrests were made by the cyber cell team of Premnagar police during an operation. Three other gang members, Arman, Arsh Sheikh and Mohd Faiz, are still absconding. The mastermind of the gang, Deepak, used to operate a U-MONEY app while gaining direct access to these mule accounts. The accused used to lure poor people with lucrative incentives in exchange for access to their bank accounts. The modus operandi was allegedly designed to make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to freeze the funds and identify the actual operators behind the cyber fraud. The accused had allegedly been committing the fraud for the past four to five years. Meanwhile, retired IPS officer and national president of Azad Adhikar Sena has raised serious concerns over the cyber fraud. He has written a letter to the DGP demanding a detailed inquiry into the crime and seeking details of the end beneficiaries to whom the money was being sent, as well as the actual amount recovered in the cyber fraud. Download the TOI App.