Posing as CBI officials, three extort ~ 2 lakh from NDMC official’s wife, arrested

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 10

The Delhi Police arrested three cyber fraudsters who posed as CBI officials, the police said on Saturday. The accused have been identified as Raju Ray (29), Guddu Kumar Sharma (29), and Pappu Kumar (22), all residents of Bihar.

Modus Operandi

• The accused posed as members of the CBI Crime Branch to extort money from unsuspecting victims by threatening to arrest their family members or relatives
• Raju Ray, who studied up to Class VIII and previously worked as a waiter, was responsible for providing mule bank accounts using fake IDs
• Guddu Kumar, a commerce graduate who had worked with Airtel Payments Bank, was well-versed in the banking system.
• Pappu Kumar, the third accused, was a retailer of Airtel prepaid SIM cards and had obtained multiple SIM cards using fake IDs

According to the police, the fraudsters demanded Rs 2 lakh from the wife of an NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council) official, threatening to implicate her husband in a rape case if the payment was not made. They also threatened to publicise his arrest and tarnish their social image among relatives and friends.

“They duped her by continuously talking to her over phone, not allowing her to disconnect for about six hours until the amount was credited to their account,” police officials said.

The police received a complaint on May 21 from Ram Das (52), a resident of Amar Colony. “In his complaint, he stated that he is employed with NDMC and alleged that on May 21, his wife received a call from an unidentified number. The callers introduced themselves as officials from the CBI Crime Branch,” the DCP added.

Under the influence of the fraudsters and in an attempt to protect her husband, she deposited the requested money into two bank accounts provided by the fraudsters, the police said.

“She was so overwhelmed that she didn’t think to contact her husband to verify the facts. The fraudsters later asked her to pay an additional Rs 1.5 lakh, but her husband unexpectedly returned home. Realising that he had been at work all along, she understood that she had been cheated,” the official said.

Through technical surveillance, the police discovered that the defrauded amount had been deposited into Canara Bank and SBI accounts before being transferred and siphoned off through online payment bank accounts.

“Based on intelligence gathered through both manual and technical surveillance, raids were conducted in various parts of Bihar, leading to the arrest of the three accused,” the DCP said.

During questioning, the suspects revealed their modus operandi, which involved impersonating members of the CBI Crime Branch to extort money from unsuspecting victims by threatening to arrest their family members or relatives.

The investigation revealed that Ray, who studied up to Class VIII and previously worked as a waiter, was responsible for providing mule bank accounts using fake IDs.

Guddu Kumar, a commerce graduate who had worked with Airtel Payments Bank, was well-versed in the banking system. “He was aware of the multiple loopholes in procedure of onboarding of retailers in Airtel Payments Bank and took benefit of this and onboarded several mule retailers. His role involved opening accounts for retailer shops using fake IDs and managing the defrauded funds with the help of co-accused Pappu Kumar,” the police said.

Pappu Kumar, the third accused, was a retailer of Airtel prepaid SIM cards and had obtained multiple SIM cards using fake IDs.

The police recovered 15 mobile phones, 15 ATM cards of different banks and 14 SIM cards from the possession of the accused.