Delhi Police nabs mule account handler linked to interstate cybercrime module

Delhi Police has arrested a 22-year-old woman suspected of arranging mule bank accounts for an alleged interstate cybercrime network, and recovered dozens of ATM cards, cheque books and electronic devices from her possession, an official said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Rasmi, a resident of Greater Noida West, Uttar Pradesh, was apprehended from Greater Noida on February 6, he said.

The action was taken in connection with a case registered on February 5 after multiple cyber fraud complaints were received on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

An amount of Rs 50,000 was fraudulently siphoned from a victim in Bengaluru and Rs 3.8 lakh from another victim in Telangana, the official said. “During scrutiny, it was found that two bank accounts in the name of one Aslam, a resident of Vijay Vihar, were allegedly used to receive cheated funds.”

Preliminary investigation indicated that the accounts were part of an organised cybercrime network involved in cheating and illegal siphoning of money, the officer added.

Police conducted a detailed technical probe, examining suspicious bank account statements, login and logout IP logs of banking applications, and analysing call detail records (CDRs) and internet protocol detail records (IPDRs) of more than 50 mobile numbers.

Through technical surveillance and local intelligence, the operational location of the accused was traced to Greater Noida. A raid was conducted and Rasmi was apprehended from a residential premises, police said.

During interrogation, she allegedly confessed that she procured and supplied mule bank accounts on a commission basis to cyber fraud operators. These accounts were allegedly used in fake cryptocurrency investment schemes, fraudulent online trading platforms and high-return investment scams, police said.

The defrauded money was routed through multiple accounts to evade detection. Rasmi disclosed that the bank account kits were supplied by a co-accused, Chhaya, who was arrested earlier in the case.

She also revealed the involvement of one Vivan, suspected to be the kingpin of the network. Efforts are underway to arrest him, police added.

A total of 32 ATM cards, 61 cheque books, 18 passbooks, eight mobile phones, six laptops, one POS swipe machine and one QR code scanner were recovered during the operation.