Bengaluru police arrest cyber fraudsters in Mysuru

The Bengaluru police cracked down on a cyber fraudster ring operating out of Mysuru which was involved in cheating people through social media platforms.

The police said that a total of seven persons have been arrested and nine mobile phones, 11 bank passbooks, 31 ATM cards, and nine Aadhar cards were recovered from their possession. The arrested have been identified as Azharuddin, Shashikumar, Syed Danish, Imtiaz, and Asif among others.

According to the police, the accused connected the victims through Facebook and sent them friend requests posing as someone they know.

However, those arrested from Mysuru were involved in hiring mule accounts, approaching victims, withdrawing the swindled money from the mule accounts, and depositing them in other accounts as directed to them by the kingpins running the ring from outside the state. The accused used to get instructions on Instagram, sources said.

Investigations are underway to track down the kingpins in the case, the police said.

A probe revealed that the accounts used by the accused were earlier flagged by the cyber crime helpline 1930. At least 28 people were cheated through these accounts using the same modus operandi, the police said. 

On January 7, a businessman residing in Adugodi received a friend request on Facebook from a profile with the photograph of an old friend, which prompted the businessman to accept it. Cyber frauds, posing as the victim’s friend, claimed he was now in Dubai and was returning to India shortly. After a few days, the person said he would transfer ₹7.85 lakh to the victim’s account to avoid being taxed, asking the victim to return it once he returned to India. The fraudsters sent a fake challan showing that the deposit was made into the victim’s account and claimed the money would reflect in his account in the next 24 hours.

However, hours later, fraudsters posing as the victim’s friend sent an SOS message on Facebook claiming he was in some trouble with the police in Dubai and asked him to send ₹1.5 lakh from the money he deposited in the victim’s account to another account of an agent. Believing this, the victim transferred ₹1.5 lakh from his account as directed. He later realised that ₹7.85 lakh was not credited to his account and messages to his ‘friend’ on Facebook did not elicit any responses. Realising he had been cheated, he lodged a complaint. 

Following the money trail to the Bank of Maharashtra in Mysuru, Adugodi police arrested the accused who were running the ring from the city.