Chandigarh: Nationwide cyber scam with Pak links busted, 5 held

Virat Singh (21), Rajesh Jaiswal (55), Sitaram Gauda (35), Shivam Thakur (20) and Sanju Chauhan (20) were held over the past nine days after a man complained that he had been duped of Rs 65 lakh, said Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal.

"We have seized Rs 15 lakh cash, three laptops, 13 mobile phones, ATM cards and bank pass books. Bank accounts with Rs 27 lakh in them have been blocked. The probe began after Sipat resident Janak Rama Patel (25) complained to City Kotwali police last month that he was duped of Rs 65 lakh by fraudsters claiming he had won a lottery," the SP said.

Patel had got calls from Pakistani numbers and Whastapp messages stating he had won Rs 25 lakh in a lottery and Rs 2 crore in a TV show contest, and he was asked to deposit Rs 65 lakh in 12 bank accounts, he said.

"A probe team found the calls originated from Pakistan. We first arrested Virat Singh from Rewa into whose account Rs 50 lakh was transferred by Patel. Singh has confessed he works for Pakistan-based Chhota Mamu alias Afsar, Bada Mamu alias Asgar and Saleem who runs an international cyber fraud racket," he said.

Based on Singh's questioning, Thakur and Chauhan were arrested from Dewas (MP), Jaiswal from Mumbai and Gauda from Ganjam in Odisha, the SP said.

"Jaiswal was involved in converting Indian rupees into bitcoins and further transferring it to their operators. Singh had transferred the maximum amount of the money duped from Patel to Rajesh and Sitaram, who run a digital payment solution," he said.

Some others from West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttarakhand etc with possible connection to the racket may have duped people from other countries and there are more arrests likely, the official said.