Kanpur: The cyber cell of the crime branch arrested four fraudsters who extorted money by impersonating police officials and threatening people over allegedly watching inappropriate content. The gang swindled more than Rs 50 lakh from over 66 individuals across Kanpur and neighbouring districts. The arrested persons were identified as Shivam Verma from Naubasta’s KDA Colony Sagar Puri, Ankit Dixit from M Block Kidwainagar, Gaurav Sachan from Deendayalpuram Naubasta Gallamandi, and Kasan Rayeen from O Block Kidwainagar. Shivam, the ringleader, studied until eighth standard, whilst Kasan completed sixth standard, and Ankit finished eighth standard. Gaurav discontinued his LLB studies. The police continue to search for Shivam’s cousins Amit, Rahul, and Aman, with the latter two being responsible for making the threatening calls.DCP Crime MM Qasim Abidi said, Shivam previously operated a public service centre in Noida before returning to Kanpur last year to establish a cyber cafe. He acquired franchises of two private banks while his cousin Amit used to sell SIM cards for a prominent mobile company. Gaurav oned a cyber cafe near Nandlal Chauraha, also participated in these activities.The authorities confiscated three biometric machines, one Fino Bank payment mini ATM device, seven Airtel 5G pre-activated SIM cards, one Vodafone pre-activated SIM, 12 Fino Bank debit cards, 95 Airtel 5G SIMs, 38 Fino Bank account combo kits, one Airtel payment bank kit, and five mobile phones.
