The Gujarat police have succeeded in exposing an elaborate so-called underground network that had run several accounts for parking cyber fraud money and arrested eight individuals. This operation was carried on by Junagadh police with intelligence inputs regarding the activities of a gang in Junagadh and adjoining areas.
The inspection of 42 out of approximately 200 suspect bank accounts revealed an astonishing amount, which is around Rs 50 crore deposited from cyber scam victims. The investigation shows that interstate cybercriminals operated the gang, which obtained the bank accounts illegally by offering commissions to the account holders. All the money that was illegally transferred from the victims of cyber fraud through angadias and hawala networks was withdrawn immediately and transferred to different fraudsters situated in various parts of India.
The admission of the principal accused in Ahmedabad that more than 200 bank accounts had been acquired fraudulently led to the arrests made in the police investigation. The main accused lured individuals into allowing their accounts to park illegal money in exchange for a commission.
Besides the two men from Ahmedabad, there were five locals caught in the sting as agents convincing genuine account holders into the scheme.
Besides them, a woman who played a very important role in withdrawing and sending money to the fraudsters through hawala was also arrested.
The authorities have registered 152 complaints on the national cybercrime portal related to 82 bank accounts under investigation.
Junagadh police are working on two major investigative channels: one targeting the cyber fraudsters who exploited victims into depositing money into the compromised accounts and another investigating those who obtained the accounts and transferred the money to criminal syndicates.
Until now, the police have been calling those people having misuse of accounts to come forward and warned them that non-cooperation would attract legal consequences. This operation reflects the growing menace of cyber fraud and the highly sophisticated terms under which criminals exploit even legitimate financial systems for illegal gain.
