Police arrested 10 people of an interstate cyber fraud racket operating from Jharkhand’s Jamtara and Deoghar regions and Delhi-NCR, who were allegedly involved in online banking frauds worth over Rs 26 lakh, an officer said on Monday.
They were allegedly involved in multiple cyber frauds, including APK malware-based banking scams, impersonation of bank and utility officials, and remote-access financial frauds.
Police said the fraudsters posed as bank officials and other service providers, convincing victims to install malicious APK files sent through messenger.
“Once installed, the malware enabled the accused to gain unauthorised access to victims mobile phones, compromise internet banking credentials, intercept one-time passwords (OTPs) and siphon money from their accounts,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel said.
The arrests were made during sustained operations conducted in Jamtara, Deoghar and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand after technical analysis of financial transactions and digital evidence, he said.
The gang was found to have cheated a senior citizen of Rs 18.5 lakh after offering assistance in obtaining a senior citizen card. The victim was persuaded to install a malicious APK file, following which the amount was transferred through multiple unauthorised banking transactions, police said.
Six accused, including the alleged kingpin Manjoor Alam of Jamtara, were arrested in connection with the case. Police also recovered an SUV allegedly purchased from the proceeds of crime, six mobile phones and digital evidence.
Police have also arrested Ravindra Kumar Mandal from Hazaribagh, Ramvijay Kumar Das from Deoghar, and Ankit Kumar and Golu Kumar for allegedly carrying out credit card KYC fraud, fake M-Parivahan challan APK fraud and impersonation of BSES officials, respectively.
The police recovered a total of 14 mobile phones, one laptop and other digital evidence during the investigation.
According to police, the syndicate operated a well-organised cyber fraud network by sharing SIM cards, mobile phones, mule bank accounts, UPI IDs and internet connectivity to target victims across multiple states.
The investigation has so far worked out four cyber fraud cases registered at the Southwest district, while efforts are underway to identify and apprehend other members of the network, police added.
