New Delhi, April 18 With the arrest of two people, the Delhi Police have dismantled an international gang that was using 'forex cards' of prominent banks to withdraw funds from Bangkok, Dubai, and Hong Kong, an official said on Tuesday.
The official said that the gang had been transferring USD, Pound, and Dirham and had been withdrawing money from these countries since 2019. The funds were then brought to India through Hawala channels and the offence was committed over a period of three years and four countries.
The accused were identified as Sonal, a resident of Pachim Vihar and Paras Chauhan, a resident of Brahampuri and also an ex-employee of a bank.
According to police, a complaint from a user of a forex card was received in North district in 2022 wherein she alleged that while she was in the United Kingdom, she came to know that Rs 11 lakh recharged in her card were fraudulently withdrawn.
"Upon arrival in India, she filed a complaint with bank and police at Bara Hindu Rao police station and during investigation all data related to Forex Card transactions was collected from the bank. Thousands of calls to customer care were looked into and listened to for hours to identify calls related to alleged forex cards calling," said Sagar Singh Kalsi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North).
"A team also worked on data related to travel of India Passport holders to Thailand on particular dates. From the technical surveillance based on call details record (CDR), internet protocol and other forms of technical surveillance, one person was identified, who was present on all locations from where calls were made to customer care of the bank," said the DCP.
Then police collected data related to travel history of Indian Passport holders to Thailand between specific dates and matched with data related to technical surveillance, wherein Sonal was identified.
"Upon his arrival in India, Sonal was apprehended and on interrogation, he revealed that he collected Forex Card holder details and Forex Card form one Paras Chauhan who was an employee of Bank in 2019. Paras was also nabbed," said the official.
As per police, Paras used to provide details regarding transfer of money from one card to another.
"Sonal and another co-accused Sandeep Ojha arranged SIM cards for calling Bank customer care from February 2022, first from Sector 137 Noida, Uttar Pradesh and then from Pachim Vihar," said the official.
During interrogation, it was revealed that Sandeep travelled to Bangkok Thailand in April and May 2022 where they withdrew money from the ATMs using forex cards with the help of one Thai National, Anurak.
"Money was then sent to India using Hawala and cricket cetting. The accused had earlier also withdrawn money from Hongkong and Dubai in 2019 using the similar method," said the official.
"Paras also revealed that he was Consultant, Sales & Operation and was well known about the process of transfer of money from one card to another card. He also disclosed that he provided data of forex card holders and forex card to Sonal against a good amount," said the official, adding that further investigation is going on to arrest their associate Sandeep, who is on the run.
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