Gang kingpin held for fraud in Delhi

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, November 22

The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested the kingpin of a gang of fraudsters for allegedly duping scores of people by posting lucrative offers on groceries and household products in the name of BigBasket, DMart and Blinkit.

Posted lucrative offers on household items

The gang used to create fake websites of e-commerce platforms like BigBasket, DMart and Blinkit, and post lucrative offers on groceries and other household products to lure unsuspecting buyers and then cheat them by stealing their credit card details. Hemant Tiwari, IFSO DCP, Dwarka

The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the special cell arrested Shahrukh Akhtar, the mastermind of the entire nexus, from Wave City, Ghaziabad.

“The police arrested the kingpin of an interstate racket of cheats, who used to dupe innocent people by sending links on their WhatsApp in the name of shopping at BigBasket, DMart, and Blinkit. Thereafter, they would get access to the victims’ phones and steal the OTP,” Dwarka IFSO DCP Hemant Tiwari said.

The police have seized six mobile phones, 12 SIM cards, a laptop, and a car, bought with the cheated money.

“The gang used to create fake websites of e-commerce platforms and post lucrative offers on groceries and other household products to lure unsuspecting buyers and then cheat them by stealing their credit card details,” the DCP said.

A complainant alleged that while he was surfing on Facebook, he saw an advertisement regarding an offer available on BigBasket. He then clicked on the tab “shop now” and followed the directions accordingly. Thereafter, an amount of Rs 98,000 was deducted from his credit card.

“On analysis of the money trail and electronic records, it was found that the racket is spread across many states and is being operated in many tiers,” a police official said.

“The financial analysis revealed that in the alleged accounts, there are transactions worth more than Rs 30 lakh, and more than 15 victims have been duped by the gang,” the official added.

As per the police, Shahrukh received Rs 30 lakh in his personal bank account over the past one year. Two persons, identified as Sonam (21) and Juned Akhtar (28), involved in the nexus were arrested in October, the police said.

While Sonam used to telecall victims from Raj Nagar Extension call centre and run fake advertisements on social media, Juned used to withdraw cash through the ATM cards and deposit the same in the personal bank accounts of Shahrukh and his wife. For this, he we would retain a 15 per cent commission, officials said.

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