2 weeks Ago
Surat: Three months of investigation into several cyber frauds led the Surat police to bust a major international cybercrime ring and detect 200 crimes registered in 15 states and union territories. In the 24 hours ending Monday night, the police arrested four members of the gang who were allegedly involved in at least 200 cybercrime FIRs lodged across the country. Police said the FIRs were lodged in 200 cases out of the total 866 complaints registered on the national cybercrime portal.
"Our investigation revealed that the gang not only executed cyber frauds but also laundered the siphoned-off money worth crores by sending it to international gangs operating from Dubai, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries," said Anupam Singh Gahlaut, police commissioner, Surat. Gauhlaut said this is India's biggest detection of cybercrime in which as many as 200 offences registered across the country were detected in one go. "The 866 complaints of various cyber frauds, including digital arrests, were registered this year alone.
We detected transactions worth Rs 111 crores made from 623 bank accounts that the gang was operating," said Bhavesh Rojiya, deputy commissioner of police (crime). Those arrested were Ajay Italiya, Vishal Tummar, and Jalpesh Nadiyadara, apart from Hiren Barwaliya, who was nabbed at the Mumbai airport on Sunday night before he could flee to Dubai. Others on the run are Milan Vaghela and Jagdish Ajudiya, who are suspected to be in Dubai; Ketan Vekariya and Dashrath Dhandhaliya.
"Ajay Italiya, Milan Vaghela, and Ketan Vekariya are the masterminds of the scam," Rojiya added. They would withdraw the money siphoned in different cyber frauds from these accounts and transfer money to other accounts being operated from Dubai and other countries. "After withdrawing money, it was sent to Dubai via hawala or through wallets after conversion into cryptocurrency," he explained.
In the last three months, the police raided two places in Sarthana and Mota Varachha areas of the city and booked 25 people. So far, the police seized 139 debit cards, 198 passbooks, 35 cheques, 336 SIM cards, 36 mobile phones, and 16 bank kits, apart from laptops and computers. Looking at the scale of organised crime, police will soon invoke the stringent Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GujCTOC) Act-2015 against the gang members.
The first raid was conducted outside a nationalized bank in Sarthana in which 17 people were booked, of which six were arrested. During the investigation, the cops found out that Vaghela and Italiya were also involved as they raided their office in Mota Varachha last month and found a large number of bank accounts and transaction details from their office and computers. Illicit money received in 375 accounts Out of 623 bank accounts found on them, 370 were used to receive the illicit money obtained through digital arrest, task frauds, or some stock or investment frauds from different states.
Out of these 370 accounts, 275 are such that they have more than one cybercrime attached to them. 196 crimes detected The probe helped detect 51 cyber fraud complaints lodged in Karnataka and Telangana, 41 in Maharashtra, 10 each in Tamil Nadu and Delhi, eight in Andhra Pradesh, seven in Gujarat, six in Odisha, two each in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, and one each in Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. ED to be informed The police will appoint a special team of chartered accountants to look into transactions done by the gang members.
The sheer number of bank accounts has necessitated engagement of financial experts to decipher the nature of transactions. The Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and other agencies will also be informed. The role of some bank employees is also not being ruled out.
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