Bengaluru, Jul 26: Cybercrime sleuths from the Criminal Investigation Department have busted a marketing and phishing racket, and arrested four persons from Jharkhand.
Details of 16,000 bank accounts and 460 Sim cards have been recovered from the quartet, which includes two siblings. The fraudsters allegedly hosted fake websites offering to sell products at deep discounts and pay high interest on deposits.
They indulged in bottom phishing, where small sums are siphoned off from bank accounts of a large number of victims. "The accused hoped the victims would not approach police as the amounts they lost were small," said MD Sharath, deputy superintendent of police.
Kapil Dev Suman alias Ajai Singh, 26 and his brother Sushil Kumar Suman, 24, were arrested in Bengaluru; Sooraj Kumar, 25 and Biplav Kumar, 24 were picked up from Patna. All of them are residents of Bokaro Steel City in Jharkhand. Police suspect the involvement of more people in the scam, which they suspect was operational from 2015. Transactions show they had swindled at least Rs 15 lakh.
Recently, a JP Nagar resident approached cybercrime police saying Rs 7,000 had been fraudulently transferred from his bank account. "Investigations revealed the accused had used an e-wallet to siphon off the money," a police officer said.
Investigation of the money trail soon led police to the accused, and two were picked up. "The other two gave us a tough time. As communication from their arrested partners stopped, the duo sensed something amiss. They fled Bokaro before our team reached the spot. The team chased the duo who went to Ranchi, Bodh Gaya and Patna," said Pratap Reddy, ADGP, CID.
Police said the four accused are dropouts from a diploma college in Bengaluru and had worked in call centres before taking to crime. "They came to Bengaluru in 2012 and enrolled for a diploma in electronics. However, they couldn't pass the exam," a police officer said.
In call centres, Kapil and Sooraj discovered they can siphon off cash from people's bank accounts through fraudulent ways. They asked the other two to join them. "Sushil purchased more than 600 domain names with service providers and developed websites, where they offered massive discounts," a police officer said. They used Sim cards to provide different numbers on the websites.
Modus Operandi
The accused would post advertisements on Facebook and Google saying investors can get great benefits, including high interest on cash deposits. The ads would also offer flat 80% discount on products. "We accept cash investments between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1.8 lakh," they declared on the websites. Customers who logged on to the portals were directed to enter their bank account details, which the gang members would steal to siphon off money, police said.
Number of victims not known
"The gang has been active since 2015. We need more time to find out the exact number of victims. The accused would spend lavishly on flight tickets and star hotels in cosmopolitan cities," police said. The fake websites run by the accused include www.munafaperday.com, www.munafadaily.com, www.paymaza.com, www.futuretrade.biz and mudratrade.com, cops revealed.
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