Jamtara police arrested five cyber fraudsters in a coordinated operation across the Karmatanr and Narayanpur police station areas, busting a gang accused of cheating people through digital payment platforms such as PhonePe and Google Pay.
Acting on specific intelligence, a special team from the cyber police station raided Matand village under Karmatanr police station and Lokniya village under Narayanpur police station. During the operation, police arrested Vishnu Mandal,19, Sachin Mandal, 19, Sagar Nayak, 27, Kishore Das, 23, and Bishwajit Das, 25, who is originally from Durgapur in West Bengal.
Police recovered 15 mobile phones, 14 SIM cards, four ATM cards, two laptops and ₹50,000 in cash from the accused.
Jamtara Superintendent of Police (SP) Shambhu Kumar Singh said the gang allegedly posed as bank officials and called people, warning them that their debit or credit cards would be blocked. “The accused would create panic among victims, collect confidential banking details and then transfer money through online payment platforms,” he said.
The SP added that the accused also allegedly impersonated electricity department officials and duped people on the pretext of electricity bill payment. “The seizure of digital devices is important, and forensic examination may help us identify more victims and possible links to a wider network,” Singh said.
According to police, one of the arrested accused, Sagar Nayak, had earlier been named in a cyber crime case, while Kishore Das was also linked to an earlier case. Officials suspect the network may have connections beyond Jharkhand.
Cyber police station officer Rajesh Mandal said the operation was carried out by a special team after sustained surveillance. “We acted on credible inputs and conducted simultaneous raids to prevent suspects from escaping. The investigation is now focused on tracing financial transactions and identifying other gang members,” he said.
