Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City CEN (Cyber, Economic and Narcotics) Crime Police have busted an international investment fraud racket that operated from Nepal and cheated Indians of hundreds of crores of rupees. The police have arrested 11 accused, while five more Indian suspects are absconding. The fraud network included 16 Indians and Chinese nationals; the Nepal Police have arrested the Chinese fraudsters.
Giving details about the case, City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said that the arrested have been identified as Makwan Vikram (25) of Gujarat, Soumyaditya Chattopadhyay (21) of West Bengal, Pupla Shiva Kumar Rao (32) of Jharkhand, Gaurav Pandey (24) and Harsh Mishra (22) of Uttar Pradesh, Rajesh Mandan (30) of Jharkhand, Mohammed Aqib Ali (27) of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeev Ranjan Kumar (30) of Bihar, Mithun Kumar Mangaraj (38) of Jharkhand, Naushad Ali (34) of Uttar Pradesh and Om Prakash Yadav (37) of Rajasthan.
Police seized one laptop, 21 mobile phones, 20 SIM cards of various companies, and 20 debit and credit cards from the accused. Further investigation is under way to trace the absconding accused and identify more victims and bank accounts linked to the racket.
During the investigation, police examined the mobile phones and laptops seized from the accused and found details of 624 bank accounts used for the fraud. As many as 4,580 complaints have been registered against these accounts on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP). In one of the accounts alone, transactions worth Rs 167 crore were recorded.
In the case registered at the Mangaluru CEN Crime Police Station, the complainant was cheated of Rs 1.38 crore, which was routed through 10 different bank accounts. Police said that in these 10 accounts, about Rs 30.70 crore had been transferred. Details of the remaining 623 accounts are being collected.
Police said the accused targeted Indian investors through social media platforms and fake trading applications, promising high returns. One group of fraudsters, operating from Nepal, recruited account holders and agents through social media, transferred the cheated money, converted it into USDT, and then sent it abroad.
Another group, operating from Cambodia and other countries, contacted investors through social media and used Indians working abroad to lure investors in local languages with promises of high returns, getting money transferred into various accounts. The transactions were controlled by the Nepal-based team.
According to police, one group of fraudsters operated from Nepal, where they recruited bank account holders and agents through Telegram and Instagram by posing as representatives of different companies. They promised commissions of five to ten per cent and lured people with offers of free travel, accommodation and other incentives. Once the accounts were procured, the gang used net banking to move the cheated money into multiple accounts.
The fraud proceeds were then converted into cryptocurrency (USDT) and sent abroad on a daily basis.
Another group, operating from Cambodia and Dubai, contacted potential investors through unknown WhatsApp numbers and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Telegram. They displayed fake profit figures on mobile applications to gain the victims’ trust. Initially, small profits were paid to convince investors, after which they were persuaded to invest larger sums.
Police said the gang was cheating Indians of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore every day through such investment frauds.
The police have also warned about the disturbing trend of “digital slavery”. Youth seeking jobs abroad were allegedly trapped through fake job advertisements and agents, taken on tourist visas to Middle Eastern countries and later detained after their passports were seized. They were forced to speak to Indian investors in their native languages and persuade them to transfer money.
In Dakshina Kannada district alone, six such victims have already been rescued, and cases have been registered based on their complaints, police said.
Police said recovery of cheated money becomes difficult as the fraudsters convert the funds into USDT and transfer them abroad on the same day. Delay by victims in lodging complaints also hampers efforts to block the accounts and retrieve money.
The police have warned that those who give their bank accounts to fraudsters for commission will also be treated as accused. Since the main operators work from abroad, the local account providers are often the first to be arrested.
Investors have been advised not to fall for attractive advertisements on social media promising high returns and to beware of fake SEBI certificates and demat accounts. They should open trading and demat accounts only with SEBI-registered brokers, police said.
In case of cyber fraud, victims have been asked to call 1930 immediately and lodge a complaint at the nearest police station without delay.
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