Bengaluru North Division cybercrime police have arrested three people accused of defrauding a city resident of Rs 93.58 lakh through a fake online trading scheme and using hundreds of mule bank accounts to route money from cyber frauds across India.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Amit Mishra from Jharkhand, Tausif Ahmed from J.C. Nagar in Bengaluru and Parashuram Sadanand from Jeevan Bima Nagar, according to the police. Mobile phones allegedly used in the fraud were seized during the operation.
Police said the suspects added the complainant, identified as Harish, to a WhatsApp group and persuaded him to open a demat account for online trading. They allegedly induced him to transfer money in stages to different bank accounts, collecting Rs 93.58 lakh without providing the promised returns. The arrests followed a complaint filed by Harish.
The investigation subsequently revealed an alleged wider network for collecting and using bank accounts. Police said the suspects offered commissions to obtain details of bank accounts belonging to members of the public, companies and trusts, along with the SIM cards linked to those accounts.
In some cases, the suspects allegedly kept account holders in hotels and installed APK files on their mobile phones. Police said this enabled the accused to access transaction-related one-time passwords and SMS messages sent to the account holders, allowing them to control or monitor banking activity.
A search of the suspects’ mobile phones reportedly led to the discovery of more than 507 fake or mule bank accounts. Police said these accounts had been used in cybercrime cases across several states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra and New Delhi. Mule accounts are bank accounts used to receive, transfer or disguise proceeds from fraud and other illegal transactions.
The investigation also linked the suspects to another alleged fraud involving a charitable trust. Police said the accused promised Srinivas that they would make a donation to his trust and brought him to Lucknow, where Rs 5 lakh from the money involved in the present case was deposited into an account. The remaining amount was allegedly moved through other accounts.
According to senior police officials, the suspects used a Dubai-based application for communication and cryptocurrency wallets to transfer allegedly illicit funds. Internet protocol and location analysis indicated links to a network operating from Kolkata, Hong Kong and California, police said.
The alleged principal accused, identified as Anoop alias Zulfi, and individuals who managed Telegram identities remain absconding. Police said efforts to trace them and investigate the wider network are continuing.
