Delhi Police busts interstate gang of cyber frauds dealing in crypto

Delhi Police busted an interstate gang of hi-tech fraudsters and arrested four persons who allegedly used to cheat gullible people on the pretext of facilitating online loans.

According to Delhi Police, the gang used to deal in cryptocurrency. They learn tactics from YouTube and get in touch with Chinese nationals on telegram.

The accused have been identified as Deepak Patwa (23), Dev Kishan (32), Suresh Singh (45) and Sunil Kumar Khatik (34). Deepak, Dev and Suresh are residents of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan while Sunil is a resident of Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh.

Police said that one Mohd Nadeem Saifi filed a complaint at Cyber Police Station Rohini alleging therein that he received a text message on his phone that "LIGHT your applied loan is approved, you can choose loan limit ranged from Rs 2,00,000/-, please login App..."

The complainant followed the link and uploaded the basic details. Soon after he received a WhatsApp call from an international number and he was asked to deposit 5 per cent of loan amount in advance, as per company rule which will be refunded later. After depositing a total of Rs 40,000/- in three transactions, he stopped responding on WhatsApp.

The case was registered at PS Cyber Rohini and an investigation was initiated by Delhi Police.

On investigation and tracking the money trail, it was learnt that the cheated amount has been transferred into bank accounts at Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh.

On further analysis, it was learnt that more than Rs 75 lakh was transferred into the alleged account within two days and cryptocurrency was being purchased on various platforms from the cheated money.

Police then zeroed in on some suspects. Subsequently, technical surveillance was also mounted on the suspects and it was learnt that they were operating from the area of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.

Accordingly, raids were conducted at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan and on the basis of technical analysis as well as human intelligence, four accused persons were apprehended.

On interrogation, the accused persons revealed their identity and they were then arrested.

Police recovered 15 ATM cards, seven mobile phones and 27 SIM cards used in the commission of the crime. Further, a dongle, laptop, tablet, six chequebooks, one BMW car, five passbooks and Rs 20,000 were also recovered.

During interrogation, the accused persons disclosed that they got this idea (modus operandi) of cheating from YouTube. They come in touch with some Chinese nationals on telegram who used to cheat innocent persons on the pretext of facilitating online loans.

The accused used to get the cheated money in different bank accounts through UPI and then convert it into cryptocurrency by purchasing USDT from cheated money on a crypto exchange.

Arrested accused Deepak Patwa used to receive commission in cryptocurrency and later redeem it into his account and through hawala.

On further investigation, it has also been learnt that the IP address of the alleged WhatsApp number belongs to China. In order to communicate with the alleged WhatsApp number, the accused Deepak used to translate the messages received in the Chinese language into Hindi with help of Google Translator and further also used to pass his version with help of Google translator.

The investigation is underway. More victims of the accused persons are being identified.