Fraudsters nabbed by Cyber Cell involved in 1,713 cheating incidents

The fraudsters, who were arrested last month by the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) for opening mule accounts, have been found to be allegedly involved in 1,713 cheating incidents and 60 FIRs registered across the country.

The CCIC had received a tip-off in August that two individuals staying at Hotel Friends in Sector 52 were asking people to open bank accounts and offering them a commission of Rs 10,000.

Acting on this information, the two suspects, identified as Devender Kumar Yadav and Sankar Suvan Shukla, also known as Abhay Shukla, both from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested. Another accused, Ankit Jain, a Delhi resident, was also apprehended for selling these mule accounts to handlers based in Dubai.

Following the arrests, the police shared the information with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, a centralised portal for cybercrime.

According to the police, the subsequent analysis of mobile phone IMEI numbers used by the accused revealed their involvement in 1,713 cyber fraud incidents across India.

A police official said 60 FIRs were also registered in the fraud cases, involving the same mobile phone IMEI numbers. The police had recently submitted this information to the court while opposing the bail of the accused. The investigation carried out by the police had revealed that around 700 bank accounts had been opened by the accused, of which 100 were frozen.

People, who used to provide documents for opening these bank accounts, were from economically weaker sections. They were unaware that their accounts could be misused for siphoning off money obtained through cybercrime.

Cyber sleuths had arrested an official of Indian Bank, Sector 17, who had allegedly opened the accounts without conducting a proper check, and also a hotel manager for not making entry of Devender and Shankar’s stay at the hotel.

60 FIRs registered across country

According to the police, mobile phone IMEI numbers used by the accused revealed their involvement in 1,713 cyber fraud incidents across India. A police official said 60 FIRs were also registered in these fraud cases, involving the same mobile phone IMEI numbers.