New Delhi: Delhi Police has busted an online investment scam syndicate and arrested five people—including two school students and three college students — from Uttarakhand.The scam came to light after a resident of east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar approached cops on April 6 and claimed that he had been duped on the pretext of product-based online tasks and investment schemes promising lucrative returns.The man told the police that he was added to a social media group and duped by individuals posing as digital marketing professionals for around Rs 1 lakh. A case was registered at the cyber police station in the east district after he reported the matter on the NCRP.“Cyber experts and investigators meticulously analysed bank transactions, KYC records, digital footprints and financial transaction trails,” said DCP (east) Rajeev Kumar. “It was discovered that a significant portion of the defrauded money had been transferred into accounts operated by accused persons based in Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand.”One of the beneficiary accounts that received Rs 50,000 was traced to an 18-year-old Class XII student, Raj Bachhar. The money was also found to have been routed to the account of 21-year-old BBA student Sameer Bacchar. The co-accused were identified as Rohit Ray, an 18-year-old pursuing a BBA; Rohit Mistri, an 18-year-old BCom student; and Harish Sarkar, an 18-year-old student of Class XI.Based on technical surveillance, the accused were nabbed. Raj and Sameer were found to be the mule account holders, while Ray, Mistri and Sarkar were acting as facilitators who arranged bank accounts and supplied them to fraud networks across the country, police said. The accused were found to be connected to multiple NCRP complaints of around Rs 3.5 lakh.
