The Bengaluru Police has busted a Rs 854 crore cyber fraud scam and apprehended six people in connection with the matter for allegedly cheating thousands of victims across the country on the pretext of an investment scheme, officials said on Saturday (September 30).
Rs 5 crore has been frozen out of the total cheated amount, they added.
The victims were lured through WhatsApp and Telegram by the accused gang.
“Initially, they were asked to invest smaller amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to 10,000 on the pretext that they would earn Rs 1,000 to 5,000 per day as a profit,” a senior police official said.
Thousands of victims had invested money in between Rs one lakh to 10 lakh or more, he said.
The money invested by the victims was dumped into different bank accounts through online payments.
“However, after completing the investment process, when the victim tried to withdraw the amount, they never got any refund,” he said.
The accused diverted the consolidated money to mule accounts once the amount was collected, the police said.
The total amount of Rs 854 crore was dumped into various online payment modes through crypto (Binance), payment gateway, gaming apps among others, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
