Bengaluru: For the first time, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has apprehended a prime suspect in a FedEx fraud case that swindled Rs 2.7 crore from a retired government engineer.
The victim, a man in his early 60s, could have lost even more if not for infighting among the fraudsters.
In a twist of fate, a disgruntled gang member tipped off the victim about the scam.
On May 30 this year, the gang, pretending to be police officers, contacted the victim, who was leading a retired life in Kodagu. They falsely accused him of sending a package containing illicit drugs through FedEx and documents related to money laundering.
The terrified victim was placed under “digital arrest” for 10 days, during which he was forbidden from contacting anyone or leaving his house. The fraudsters coerced him into transferring Rs 2.7 crore in multiple installments as bribes to avoid arrest.
The gang demanded even more money, and the victim had arranged to send it. However, a quarrel broke out among the scammers, leading one of them to inform the victim about the fraud.
The retired engineer subsequently filed a complaint at the Kodagu CEN police station, and the case was later transferred to the CID.
Investigators examined the bank accounts used to funnel the stolen money but initially faced a dead end.
“The money was withdrawn from ATMs in Bengaluru, but it wasn’t clear who was behind it,” a CID officer involved in the investigation told DH.
Shifting their focus, the CID scrutinised the mule bank account statements and identified those receiving the most money. They then traced the phone numbers linked to these accounts and identified the shops in Devarjeevanahalli and Kadugondanahalli where the SIM cards were issued.
The shopkeepers led the CID to three suspects who had purchased the SIM cards: Mohammad Shakib, Mohammad Ayaan and Ahsaan Ansari. The investigation also revealed the involvement of Yusuf Sait, who runs a travel agency in Dubai and allegedly played a key role in laundering the money. Sait had flown to Bengaluru and checked into a luxury hotel in Vasanthnagar.
According to the CID, Sait facilitated NRIs in sending money from Dubai to India. He would accept Dirhams in Dubai and deliver rupees in Bengaluru. “Sait is a close confidant of the scam’s mastermind and had come to Bengaluru to buy an expensive flat,” the officer said.
Police arrested Salman Raja, who had withdrawn money from the ATMs, and discovered that the cash was sent to the Fraser Town house of one of Sait’s relatives, which served as the gang’s ‘Bengaluru head office’.
From there, the laundered money was distributed to beneficiaries via a delivery partner. The gang used food delivery partners to avoid suspicion. In some cases, the operation resembled the hawala system. After depositing Dirhams in Dubai, Sait’s customers would arrive in Bengaluru to collect the equivalent in rupees from Fraser Town, after verifying their identity.
Similarly, when Sait arrived in Bengaluru, a food delivery partner handed him money from the Fraser Town house. A police team led by CID inspector Yogesh Kumar B C and supervised by superintendent of police Anoop Shetty tracked down the delivery partner, which eventually led to Sait’s arrest. He had been in the city to purchase a flat using the stolen money. The FedEx scam operates in three layers, and so far, the police had only succeeded in breaking through the first two. Sait’s arrest has provided new insights into the scam’s operations, with one officer remarking, “His arrest has given a new perspective on how the scam operates.”