Delhi Police arrests seven for duping man of Rs 91 lakh in crypto fraud

The Delhi police have apprehended seven individuals, including a bank employee under contract, for allegedly defrauding a man of Rs 91 lakh by promising high returns in stock and crypto trading, officials announced on Sunday.

The suspects, identified as Ajay, Mohit, Shankar (the contractual bank employee), Partyaksh Koshar, Manish Jawla, Shrayance Pandit, and Dinesh, were involved in opening bank accounts using fake addresses and selling these accounts to other cybercriminals, according to the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemant Tiwari of the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit stated that a complaint was filed by a man claiming he was cheated out of Rs 91 lakh under the pretext of receiving high returns in stock and crypto investments.

“The victim was added to a messaging group where stock recommendations were provided by the fraudsters. After being persuaded by these cyber criminals, he opened an account on a website and transferred Rs 91 lakh to 19 different accounts,” the DCP explained.

Realising he had been deceived, the victim reported the matter to the police, who registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and began an investigation.

During their investigation of another cyber fraud case, the police had identified and frozen one such account. The suspects then impersonated an IFSO unit officer in an e-mail to the bank manager, requesting the account be unfrozen.

“All suspicious bank accounts involved were frozen on police orders. One account, under Gaurav Trading, had Rs 46 lakh, which was seized immediately,” the DCP said.

Subsequently, the bank manager notified the police of a fraudulent notice received from an e-mail resembling a government ID, asking to unfreeze the account. This e-mail was traced back to proton mail.

After analysing digital footprints, the police identified and arrested Ajay and Mohit first, followed by Shankar, Partyaksh Koshar, Manish Jawla, Shrayance Pandit, and Dinesh. The police recovered Rs 5.5 lakh from the suspects, with further investigations ongoing, DCP Tiwari added.