CBI arrests Mumbai-based cyber fraudster during nationwide raids

Mumbai/New Delhi, June 13 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a cyber fraudster in Mumbai and seized incriminating documents during an ongoing nationwide crackdown on cyber-enabled financial crimes under Operation Chakra-V, an official said on Friday.

Pratik Tanpure, a resident of Kalyan, was arrested during searches at 10 locations across Delhi, Hisar, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik in connection with a cyber enabled organised investment fraud case.

He was involved in supplying pre-activated SIM cards and mule bank accounts to cybercriminal networks, thereby, enabling and sustaining their illegal operations, the official said.

A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to transfer stolen money. The person who owns the account is called a "money mule".

Substantial incriminating material was recovered from Tanpure during the searches, the CBI said in a statement.

The case pertains to a well-orchestrated fraud where unsuspecting individuals were cheated through a fraudulent mobile application and WhatsApp groups, the CBI said.

The perpetrators deceitfully lured innocent investors by promising shares of reputed listed companies at discounted rates. Once the victims invested their hard-earned money, the accused misappropriated the funds, the federal agency said.

During the coordinated searches, the CBI seized incriminating digital and documentary evidence from the premises of the accused, exposing the intricate modus operandi employed to dupe innocent investors, the agency said.

Operation Chakra-V of the CBI is focused on dismantling cybercrime syndicates and supporting infrastructure.

The federal agency’s operation comes close to Home Minister Amit Shah’s direction se to use Artificial Intelligence for identifying mule accounts.

HM Shah said over 19 lakh such accounts had been caught and transactions worth Rs 2,038 crore prevented in the fight against cybercrime.

Earlier, chairing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs on 'Cyber Security and Cyber Crime', HM Shah said considering the spike in cyber financial frauds, the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)'s 1930 helpline is being promoted as a one-point solution offering various services, such as blocking cards.

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