Delhi Police busts interstate cyber fraud syndicate linked to Cambodia; 8 arrested

Delhi Police has busted an interstate cyber fraud syndicate allegedly linked to foreign operators in Cambodia and arrested eight people involved in an online investment scam that defrauded a complainant of Rs 24 lakh, an official said on Wednesday.

The accused include individuals with educational qualifications such as BTech, MBA and diplomas in cybersecurity.

Police said they allegedly operated mule bank accounts and routed the money obtained through fraud to overseas cyber fraudsters.

The accused have been identified as Harmanjot Singh and Qaisar Masoodi, both residents of Mohali in Punjab, Abhishek of Panipat in Haryana, Md Zahid and Amir Malik of Delhi's Jafrabad, Amarjeet Ahirwar and Alok Sharma of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, and Anant Pandey of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.

According to the police, the complainant was added to a social media group where fraudsters posing as stock market experts induced members to invest in a fake online trading platform. They shared fake screenshots showing huge profits to gain the victim's trust.

Believing the scheme to be genuine, the complainant transferred around Rs 24 lakh into multiple bank accounts provided by the accused.

When he later sought withdrawal of his investment and profits, the fraudsters allegedly demanded more money on various pretexts, the police said.

Subsequently, an e-FIR was registered at Cyber Police Station in southwest Delhi on March 20 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, following which a dedicated team launched an investigation.

During the probe, police analysed numbers, digital evidence and money trails, which revealed that the numbers being used in the fraud were allegedly operated from Cambodia.

The fake investment website used in the scam had also been deactivated after the offence, the officials said.

Police said the money was routed through multiple mule bank accounts opened in the names of shell firms across different states.

Around Rs 6.7 lakh was traced to a private bank account linked to accused Abhishek, who, along with Harmanjot Singh and Qaisar Masoodi, allegedly supplied mule bank accounts to cyber fraud operatives.

Further investigation revealed that Rs 2.6 lakh had been transferred into an Axis Bank account linked to Md Zahid and Amir Malik. Police alleged that the account was being remotely operated from Rajasthan through remote access applications on the instructions of another accused, identified as Salman.

The probe later led investigators to Madhya Pradesh, where Amarjeet Ahirwar, Alok Sharma and Anant Pandey were apprehended. Police alleged that Pandey was in direct contact with foreign handlers through encrypted WhatsApp communication and acted as a conduit between Indian mule account suppliers and overseas cyber fraud syndicates linked to Cambodia.

Police arrested the eight suspects in a series of raids over two months, beginning with Harmanjot and Qaisar on March 27, and then Abhishek on March 28. The crackdown continued into April, with Md Zahid and Amir being taken into custody on April 1, Amarjeet and Alok on April 23, and Anant on April 29.

The police recovered eight mobile phones, banking documents, commission-sharing records and other digital evidence from the accused.

Officials said more than 60 National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) complaints linked to mule accounts are under investigation, with suspicious transactions worth around Rs 4.5 crore detected within just 14 days.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)