Delhi Police busts interstate cybercrime module run by China-based operators; 8 held

The Delhi Police has arrested eight persons allegedly linked with a cybercrime syndicate operating across Delhi-NCR and several parts of the country, and detected suspicious financial transactions to the tune of Rs 15 crore, an official said on Tuesday.

“The syndicate was being remotely controlled by China-based operators through social media channels, where banking credentials were shared and malicious APK files used to bypass OTPs,” the official said.

The accused were allegedly running a multi-layered operation involving mule bank accounts to route proceeds of cyber frauds. Cash worth Rs 4.70 lakh, 14 mobile phones, 20 SIM cards and seven debit cards were recovered during the operation, he added.

The case came to light following a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) by a woman from Tamil Nadu, who reported that Rs 6,000 had been fraudulently transferred from her bank account in September last year. Analysis of the beneficiary account, maintained at a private bank branch in east Delhi, revealed it was a mule account operated by a Ghaziabad resident.

Further investigation led to registration of an FIR at Pandav Nagar police station. Police said the prime accused and his associates are part of an organised cybercrime module, with at least 85 mule bank accounts traced across several banks and over 600 NCRP complaints linked to them so far.

A team analysed bank statements, internet banking logs and IP addresses, leading to the arrest of eight accused from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Rampur and Maharashtra.

The accused allegedly facilitated mule accounts and helped siphon off the proceeds of cyber fraud, which were later converted into cryptocurrency, mainly USDT (USD Tether), police said, adding that probe is on to identify victims, track the money trail and trace foreign handlers.