Five arrested for 'part-time job' related cybercrime in Karnataka

Mangaluru: The Konaje police arrested five persons involved in cybercrime in the name of part-time job opportunity in which a complainant lost Rs 28,18,065.

City police commissioner Anupam Agrawal said the arrested are Syed Mahmood, Shoaib, Mohammed Shariq Ahmed, Moysin Ahmed Khan, and Mohammad Azam. The complainant received a WhatsApp message about a part-time job offer.

The message included a link on Telegram app, which the complainant was asked to open. On opening Telegram and enquiring about the job, a video was sent. The complainant was asked to send a screenshot after watching the video. When he sent the screenshot, Rs 130 was deposited to his bank account. Later, the complainant was informed that the video was incorrect and was sent another Telegram link to correct it. Upon opening the link, the fraudsters asked the complainant to deposit Rs 1,000. In a phased manner, the complainant was deceived to transfer Rs 28,18,065 into various account details provided by the fraudsters. A complaint was filed at the Konaje police station under the IT Act, the top cop added.

During the investigation conducted by inspector Rajendra B of the Konaje Police Station based on details from the bank accounts where the money was transferred and other information, four suspects from Udayagiri, Mysuru, and one suspect from Neelasandra, Bengaluru, were arrested.

The Commissioner said that an accused named Shoaib was acquainted with a person named Dastagir. Dastagir offered to arrange a bank loan for Shoaib in exchange for his bank account details, including the passbook, chequebook, ATM card, and the SIM card linked to the account. Dastagir also promised to pay Rs 10,000 per bank account. Accordingly, Shoaib provided two bank accounts: one from Karnataka Bank’s Rajendra Nagar branch and another from Canara Bank’s NR Mohalla branch, along with all associated documents, and received Rs 20,000 in return.

In the meantime, Shoaib got acquainted with Syed Mahmood, who was working as a product trainer at Airtel. Syed Mahmood not only purchased SIM cards from Shoaib but also distributed them to people as instructed by him. During this time, Shoaib informed Syed Mahmood about Dastagir’s loan arrangement offer, wherein he promised Rs 10,000 for a bank account. Syed Mahmood provided two bank accounts, along with all the linked details, to Shoaib and received Rs 20,000 in return.

Later, Shoaib informed his acquaintance, Moysin Ahmed Khan, about the loan offer and convinced him to provide two bank accounts in exchange for Rs 10,000 each. Moysin Ahmed Khan handed over two accounts with all associated documents and received Rs 20,000.

Similarly, Syed Mahmood informed his contact, Mohammad Shariq, about Shoaib’s loan offer and the payment for providing bank accounts. Mohammad Shareeq Ahmad, in turn, passed this information to Suhail, who provided one account with all related details to Syed Mahmood.

Additionally, an accused from Bengaluru, Mohammad Azam, created a bank account at Punjab National Bank's MG Road branch for Rs 3,000 and sold it to another accused. The investigation revealed that the suspects were selling bank accounts with the intent of earning more money.

The investigation also uncovered that several individuals from areas like Nehru Nagara, Shantinagar, Rajiv Nagar in Mysuru, and Neelasandra in Bengaluru were involved in cyber fraud-related crimes, where they sold their bank accounts for money.

A team led by Konaje police inspector Rajendra B, sub-inspectors Puneeth Gaonkar, Ashoka, and staff succeeded in arresting the accused based on the directions of Commissioner of Police, DCPs Sidharth Goyal and B P Dinesh Kumar, and ACP Dhanya Naik.