Retired Naval Officer Duped of ₹2 Crore, Dubai-Based Scam Network Busted
Bijnor (The Uttam Hindu): Police has made a big disclosure in the case of online fraud of Rs 2 crore 8 lakh from a retired naval officer in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. Cyber Crime Police Station, SWAT and Surveillance Team have arrested six accused in a joint operation.
The accused are residents of Delhi, Lucknow, Moradabad and Kashipur. Police said that there is an international network behind this fraud, whose kingpin operates from Dubai and Hong Kong.
Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jha told in the press conference that retired naval officer Bhupendra Singh, a resident of Lalpur in Kotwali Dehat area, had lodged a complaint in the cyber police station on May 1. The complaint stated that he was added to a WhatsApp group, where a woman introduced herself as a stock market advisor and motivated him to invest. Initially, his trust was won by showing profits on small investments. After this, he was made to download an app called 'BN Fast Track', which was fake. By showing fake profits on the dashboard of this app, Rs 2 crore 8 lakh was transferred to various accounts 51 times through IMPS and RTGS. When Bhupendra tried to withdraw the profit, he was asked for Rs 50 lakh in the name of brokerage. During this time he came to know about the fraud.
Police arrested six accused Nasir Ali (Seelampur, Delhi), Danish (Bhajanpura, Delhi), Naeem Ahmed (Moradabad), Mohammad Raza Hasan (Lucknow), Virat (Moradabad) and Abdullah (Kashipur, Uttarakhand). Rs 3 lakh cash, 8 mobiles, 2 laptops, webcam, cheque book, 13 identity cards and other documents were recovered from them. Police have frozen Rs 17 lakh and Rs 2 lakh has been returned to the victim's account.
SP Abhishek Jha said that the accused used to operate from hotels in Delhi and opened accounts in the name of fake companies. The cheated amount was immediately withdrawn and transferred to foreign accounts. The kingpin of the network Charles, Shamim and Aries operate it from Dubai and Hong Kong. The police have started investigating 15-16 other transactions and more arrests are likely soon. The accused have been produced in court and sent to jail.