Patna: The Bihar Cyber Crime and Security Unit, in coordination with Patna Cyber Police, has busted a cyberfraud gang accused of cheating people across the country by offering fake loans in the name of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. Nine members of the gang have been arrested following a technical investigation based on complaints received through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and other platforms.According to police, the gang used social media platforms to run advertisements offering easy and quick loans under govt schemes. The investigation found that fake pages and social media advertisements were being operated from Kankarbagh in Patna to lure loan seekers.Investigators said the accused first collected personal details of people interested in loans through social media advertisements. They then contacted the victims over phone calls and WhatsApp and sent them fake loan approval letters. The victims were allegedly asked to pay various charges, including GST, processing fees and approval charges. In some cases, the accused allegedly used QR codes and UPI transactions to collect money and demanded payments on the pretext of improving the people’s CIBIL scores.Police seized 14 mobile phones, six feature phones, a laptop, 13 ATM cards, a passbook, three SIM cards and several notebooks and documents.During the technical investigation, police found that bank accounts and mobile numbers seized from the accused were linked to at least 12 cyberfraud complaints registered on the NCRP. Investigators also found evidence suggesting that members of the gang hired people from Bihar to Telangana and allegedly used them to target victims in southern India in the name of Mudra loans.The arrested accused have been identified as Jitu Raj, Kadam Harshvardhan, Gorantla Arun Sai, Akash Kumar, Kasturi Harish, Kota Shashan, Gangula Suryaprakash, Rahul Kumar and Roshan Kumar.Police said other members allegedly linked to the gang’s suspected kingpins are still absconding and efforts are underway to arrest them.
