Guwahati: A cyber fraud racket operating from outside Assam was busted in Chirang district, leading to the arrest of 11 people, police said on Tuesday.The case came to light after a complaint by one Imran Hussain at Bijni police station 15 days ago, alleging that his wife’s bank account details and SIM card were fraudulently used by one Afsar Uddin. Chirang SP Akshat Garg said Hussain alleged that Uddin obtained the information by falsely promising to credit money against his wife’s Mahatma Gandhi NREGA job card. “Hussain also alleged that a financial transaction of Rs 1 lakh was detected in his wife’s bank account, and the account was found blocked when he checked it in the home branch of the bank,” the SP added. A case was registered under sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, breach of trust, and property theft under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant charges of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Following a 15-day investigation, police arrested 11 suspects and seized electronic evidence, including 31 ATM cards, 26 SIM cards, nine cheque books, and 12 bank passbooks. “The modus operandi of the accused was to target gullible villagers, luring them with money in the name of some job card or govt schemes. They collect the bank details and SIM card of the target villagers and share those details in certain Telegram groups,” the SP said. He added that these Telegram groups are operated from different states of the country and even abroad. “The administrators operate the groups from different locations. The arrested people get an incentive of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per day for their work,” he added. The bank accounts were allegedly used for financial transactions by cyber-frauds, the SP said, adding that the investigation will explore all possible angles and more developments are expected. The arrested people are Afsar Uddin, Matleb Ali, Abdul Awal, Akher Ali, Saddam Hussain, Golap Hussain, Mir Kashem, Anwar Hussain, Jiarul Islam, Manju Ali, and Surman Ali. All are residents of Bijni under the jurisdiction of Bijni police station.
