Gorakhpur : Police arrested five alleged cyber fraudsters for operating a racket that routed more than Rs 4.09 crore through mule bank accounts and converted the proceeds into cryptocurrency.
Police said the accused were lured by the prospect of lavish spending, a high-end lifestyle and becoming crorepatis through shortcuts.
A joint team of cyber cell and Chiluatal police arrested the five and seized Rs 13.76 lakh cash, a cash-counting machine, a luxury car, 22 ATM cards and several cheque books and passbooks. The gang allegedly used bank accounts of unsuspecting people by promising them a 20% commission. He reportedly retained 10% of the amount withdrawn. Adarsh Singh and Pragya Ratan allegedly handled the conversion of cash into USDT, receiving a commission of Rs 160 per USDT. Police said Rs 12.76 lakh in cash and 19 ATM cards were recovered from him.
Police said Navneet had allegedly been involved in the racket for about a year. The accused have been identified as gang’s local leader Navneet Pandey alias Adesh Pandey of Nautanwa police station area of Maharajganj; Ravi Verma of Basantpur under Rajghat police station; Adarsh Singh alias Thanos of Khurja in Chandauli; Pragya Ratan of AIIMS police station area; and Maqsood Alam Khan of Karim Nagar under Chiluatal police station. He collected bank account details through social media groups and coordinated the movement of fraud proceeds, including cash withdrawals and conversion into USDT, a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar. Ravi Verma allegedly arranged mule accounts by persuading people to hand over their bank details, ATM cards and cheque books in return for commissions. Maqsood Alam Khan allegedly liaised with foreign agents, arranged cryptocurrency conversion and facilitated transfers to designated wallets. A case has been registered at Chiluatal police station. Police are searching for five other suspects and investigating the role of account holders and mastermind behind the racket.