Mangaluru: Mangaluru City CEN police arrested six suspects recently, including five from Hyderabad and one from Mangaluru, for allegedly operating a large-scale cyber fraud network.Commissioner of police Sudheer Kumar Reddy said that police arrested a group of suspects based in Hyderabad, who facilitated cyber fraud by providing ‘mule accounts’ and OTPs to criminals operating overseas. The arrested are Sheikh Kareemulla alias Rasool,27, a resident of Nellore, Andhra Pradesh; Budidinne Vamshi alias Guru,21, of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh; Panditi Kranthi Kumar,36, of Hyderabad, Telangana; Ibrahim,35, a resident of Mulki, Mangaluru; Bade Srinivas,38, from Hyderabad, Telangana and Utpala Santhosh Krishna,35, a resident of Nellore.
The commissioner said complainant Mohammed Iqbal from Bunder, Mangaluru, stated in a complaint that his friend Ibrahim requested him to provide his bank account for business purposes. Following this, the complainant handed over his bank passbook, ATM card, cheque book, and a mobile sim card linked to the bank account. Accordingly, the CEN police registered a case under sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, along with sections 308(5), 318(4), 319(2), 111 and 3(5) of the BNS.During the investigation, police analysed technical evidence and found the gang operating from Hyderabad. A special team from the CEN police went to Hyderabad, where they successfully tracked down the network and arrested 5 individuals; a sixth person was apprehended in Mangaluru. In addition, police seized 18 mobile phones, a laptop, 12 sim cards, 15 cheque books, 12 bank pass books and 18 debit cards from the accused, the commissioner said.The investigation, according to Sudheer Kumar Reddy, revealed that the suspects posted attractive advertisements on social media, offering bank account holders a 4-6% commission. Once unsuspecting people were persuaded to share their full bank details and OTPs, the information was immediately sent to cyber fraudsters based overseas. He said that one of the bank accounts involved in the case had approximately five complaints registered against it nationwide on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). A detailed analysis of the seized mobile phones and laptop revealed details of 72 bank accounts. Out of 72 bank accounts, 30 had more than 272 complaints registered on the NCRP portal nationwide, the commissioner said.The investigation also revealed that the gang carried out transactions of Rs 2 crore in a single day on Feb 26. A detailed investigation is under way into the financial transactions and other cases linked to the bank accounts used for the fraud, he added.
