Gang involved in providing bank accounts to cyber scamsters busted in Gujarat; 4 held

Surat: Four members of a gang have been arrested by the Surat police, one of them from Mumbai, for allegedly providing 623 bank accounts to national and international cybercrooks for transferring proceeds of crime amounting to more than Rs 111 crore, officials said on Wednesday.

A preliminary probe has revealed the four accused, arrested on Tuesday, were part of a gang which used to work with cyber fraudsters against whom the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) has so far received 866 complaints. These criminals face 200 FIRs across the country, they said.

In June, the Surat police had arrested eight persons involved in providing bank accounts (called 'mule' accounts) to cyber criminals to park defrauded money after charging commission. Their interrogation revealed eight more persons, two of them based in Dubai, were also involved in providing such accounts, typically used for laundering proceeds of cybercrimes, said a police release.

Based on the information gathered from them, the police raided an office in the Mota Varachha area of Surat city on Tuesday and arrested three persons -- Ajay Italia, Jalpesh Nadiadara and Vishal Thumar. Another accused, Hiren Barvalia, was arrested from the Mumbai international airport when he was trying to board a Dubai-bound flight, said the release.

Four others -- Milan Vaghela, Ketan Vekaria, Dashrath Dandhalia and Jagdish Ajudia -- are still at large. Of these, Vaghela and Ajudia are currently in Dubai, it said.

When the police raided the office in Mota Varachha, the trio was busy transferring money, deposited by cyber fraud victims, from one bank account to another. After completing fund transfer, their accomplices used to withdraw cash in Dubai using debit cards, said the police, explaining the gang's modus operandi.

The bank accounts provided by these accused were used by India as well as Dubai and China-based cyber criminals, who duped people through digital arrest, job, task and investment frauds, said the release.

The accused used to charge a specific commission for providing access to their bank accounts, it said.

During the raid at the office and two other locations in Surat, the police recovered 28 mobile phones, 198 bank passbooks, 100 debit cards, 35 cheque books, 258 SIM cards and three computers. In all, the police learnt the gang was operating as many as 623 bank accounts, in which transactions worth Rs 111 crore were detected, said the release.

A diary recovered from the office revealed the accused had acquired some of the bank accounts on a specific commission from 16 persons and then they are charging fees from cyber criminals for using them, it said.

NCRP data accessed by the Surat police revealed that of these 623 bank accounts, people from across the country have lodged 866 complaints against holders of 370 accounts on the portal as these were used by scamsters to accept money from cyber fraud victims.

The data also revealed the bank accounts were linked to 200 FIRs registered across the country for different cyber frauds, said the release.