Kanpur: The Kanpur police have busted an Rs 80 crore interstate cyber fraud ring run by a gang run by man dubbed ‘Digital King’. With the help from Naubasta police and Lucknow STF, the probe traced the money to an account in Delhi operated by Karan Kasera alias ‘Digital King’ and his aide Gulshan Kumar alias ‘Kaira’. Kasera and Kumar were arrested on Saturday.A case was registered at Naubasta police station after a complainant received a Facebook link on his mobile phone inviting him to join an equity group for share trading. Clicking the link added him to a WhatsApp group named “Shraddha Shakti”, where he was persuaded to invest after being shown high returns. He transferred Rs 7 lakh in multiple instalments. The app was later shut down and his money was siphoned off. He then filed a complaint on the NCRP portal and lodged an FIR at Naubasta police station.During the investigation, police found the defrauded amount was transferred through various bank accounts and ultimately reached an account in New Delhi by the fifth layer. The investigation revealed there were over 600 complaints against this bank account on the NCRP portal nationwide, and 13 FIRs were registered in different districts of Uttar Pradesh. About Rs 26 crore was defrauded in these registered cases. The suspect account in Delhi, belonging to Ajay Kumar, had transactions of around Rs 80 crore over three months. Earlier, a person was digitally arrested and about Rs 35 lakh was returned to them from the suspect account.Considering the seriousness of the case, the Naubasta police team took action in the Abohar area of Fazilka district, Punjab. Police found the account was opened in the name of Ajay Kumar, a cobbler, but was operated by his associates Karan Kasera and Gulshan Kumar, known as “Digital King” and “Kaira”.“Ajay was earlier arrested by the Delhi police and sent to jail. Karan Kasera and Gulshan Kumar were questioned and admitted to defrauding people by promising to double or triple their money through trading on Telegram and WhatsApp. Police found the defrauded money was transferred through various accounts up to the fifth or sixth layer to evade detection.Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal said digital evidence analysis of seized iPhones revealed several WhatsApp groups used to operate the cyber fraud network through foreign and Indian numbers. “Investigators found the fraud money was withdrawn in cash using cheques and ATMs and used for personal expenses. The involvement of “Digital King” and “Kaira” in operating the gang came to light. The role of bank employees in the transactions in the accused’s accounts was also under suspicion, and notices were issued by the Income Tax Department. Further investigation was underway to identify other individuals involved, examine bank accounts and analyse digital evidence,” he said.
