Commerce postgraduate held in Rs 10 lakh cyber fraud

Mahendergarh: A Jaipur resident with a postgraduate degree in Commerce has been arrested for allegedly playing a key role in an inter-state cyber fraud racket that siphoned over Rs 10 lakh from a retired bank employee's account using a fake pension benefits link.Accused Harsh, a resident of Sanganer in Jaipur, was produced before a local court and taken into police remand for further interrogation.According to officials, the complainant, a retired bank employee from Narnaul, lodged a complaint at the cyber police station on March 25 after discovering that more than Rs 10 lakh was siphoned from his bank account. During the investigation, police found that the victim clicked on a Facebook advertisement promising ‘pensioner retirement benefits'. The link allegedly triggered the installation of a malicious APK file on the victim's mobile phone. Soon after, fraudsters posing as officials from the bank's HR department contacted the victim and kept him engaged in conversation while secretly gaining remote access to his device. Investigators revealed that the scammers subsequently liquidated the victim's fixed deposit and transferred Rs 10,01,072 from his account within a short span of time.An FIR was registered under the BNS, following which cyber teams launched a technical probe that led to the arrest of the accused.During interrogation, Harsh, who has a Masters of Commerce degree, disclosed that he was in constant contact with a Bihar-based mastermind through Telegram and WhatsApp. Police said the gang operated a sophisticated money-routing network instead of using conventional bank accounts to transfer stolen funds.Investigators revealed that the syndicate used fraudulently created Common Service Center IDs to channel the defrauded money. The mastermind allegedly circulated malicious APK files to compromise victims' phones and then diverted the stolen funds into these fake CSC-linked accounts.Police added that Harsh's primary role was to launder the illicit money. Through various Telegram groups, he allegedly lured people by offering discounted payment services for electricity bills, LIC premiums and credit card dues. He collected cash from customers and cleared their payments online using the defrauded funds, thereby converting the stolen money into seemingly legitimate transactions while earning hefty commissions.MSID:: 131264843 413 |