Two arrested for cyber fraud racket posing as spiritual healers

Two men were arrested for allegedly running a cyber fraud racket, where they posed as spiritual healers using fake female profiles and cheated victims through staged rituals and tantric remedies, police said on Friday.

The accused Ganesh (21), who is pursuing a BA through distance education, and Mandeep Singh (21), who has completed an ITI course in diesel engine mechanics and is a graduate, are residents of Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, they said.

According to police, the accused operated from a rented flat in the Kharar area of Mohali, where they were arrested. They allegedly targeted emotionally vulnerable people across the country through fake social media accounts under the banner ''All Problems Solutions''.

The complainant alleged that people posing as spiritual healers emotionally manipulated him, promising to resolve his personal problems through special rituals and spiritual remedies.

He allegedly transferred Rs 2.51 lakh to the accused in six separate transactions, police said.

During an investigation, police found that the accused had created multiple fake female profiles on social media platforms using names such as ''Zaynab Khan'', ''Muskan Khan'', ''Kavita Chaudhary'', ''Zara Khan'' and ''Islam Wzifa''.

''These fake profiles were used to post comments and fabricated success stories claiming that a spiritual healer had solved love, marriage and family-related issues,'' a senior police officer said.

Victims who approached these profiles seeking help were then provided numbers operated by the accused, who allegedly posed as spiritual healers and convinced people to pay money for pooja materials, tantra vidhya and rituals, police said.

Police said the team traced the accused to Mohali after carrying out technical analysis of numbers, social media accounts, login sessions, IP details and financial transaction trails.

Police recovered five smartphones allegedly used in the crime.

Police said the seized devices contained incriminating chats, QR codes and other digital evidence. Data recovered from the phones revealed interaction with more than 2,000 people across India, police said. Further investigation is underway, police said.

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