With the arrest of five persons from Delhi, Pune Police's Cyber Cell today claimed to have busted a gang which duped people of their money by declaring them as lucky-draw winners.
The accused, who operated from the national capital, were identified as Anuj Kumar Tiwari, Vikas Rawat, Devsingh Gautam, Pawan Mishra and Sunny Kumar Chand. A court here remanded them in police custody till April 22.
The modus operandi of the gang was to call people and tell them that their mobile number had come out winner in a lucky draw and they would be getting electronic gadgets as prizes, but would have to pay certain amount towards taxes and as a security deposit.
The police started probe after a complaint was filed by a city resident Pankaj Modani who alleged that he received a call last October from a person claiming to be from an online shopping website, Senior Inspector Sunil Pawar said.
"Modani was told his number has been selected in an online lucky draw and he was free to choose any gadget from the website, provided he paid some taxes and a deposit.
"The complainant selected a DSLR camera and deposited Rs 4.68 lakh against service tax, refundable security deposit, and VAT in the bank accounts provided by the accused," Pawar said.
Modani realised that he had been taken for a ride as he never received the camera.
Police found 15 bank accounts in which Rs nine crore had been deposited from various locations across the country.
Further probe is on in the matter.
