In a major breakthrough, the Vakola Police have busted a Rajasthan-based gang involved in various online frauds, including work-from-home scams. Five members of the gang have been arrested, and their interrogation has helped police crack over five online fraud cases registered not only in Mumbai but also in Pune and Chhattisgarh. Investigations have revealed that the accused were involved in scams amounting to nearly Rs 30 crore.
The arrested accused have been identified as Rajkaran Singh Prakash Singh Tanwar, Karansingh Ramnaresh Singh, Mohammad Shakib Asfaq Ansari, Miraj Ansari Mohammad Akram, and Fujail Ahmad Jamil Ahmad Ansari. All of them are residents of Rajasthan.
The case came to light after an engineer residing in the Santacruz area, who works for a private company, lodged a complaint. In December last year, the complainant was duped of Rs 3.41 lakh by cyber fraudsters under the pretext of offering a work-from-home opportunity. Following the complaint, Vakola Police registered a case under relevant sections of fraud and the Information Technology Act.
The Vakola police's cyber cell took up the investigation and traced the siphoned money to several bank accounts in Rajasthan. Based on this crucial lead, a police team was dispatched to Rajasthan. With the assistance of local police, the team detained the five accused from different areas for questioning. Upon interrogation, their involvement in the crime was confirmed, and they were subsequently placed under arrest.
The accused were brought to Mumbai and produced before the court, which remanded them to police custody till Monday, 28th April. During their custodial interrogation, the gang confessed to their involvement in at least five other online fraud cases. It was revealed that they had opened multiple bank accounts for cyber fraudsters to park the money swindled from victims.
The investigation further revealed that in the earlier cases, Rs 7.27 crore was siphoned off in a fraud registered with the East Cyber Cell, Rs 40.85 lakh in a case with the West Cyber Cell, Rs 13.84 lakh with the North Cyber Cell, Rs 22.85 lakh with Pimpri-Chinchwad Cyber Cell, and Rs 48 lakh in a case registered with the Chhattisgarh Cyber Cell.
In total, approximately Rs 30 crore collected from various cyber frauds across multiple states in India had been deposited into the bank accounts opened by this gang, police said.