Major cybercrime gang busted in Guwahati, 4 arrests

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 3, 2024

City police have busted a major bank fraud ring, arresting four people involved in the case.

The arrested have been identified as Bablu Das (29), alias Halowa, son of Narayan Das of Uzan Bazar; Anvesh Chandra (22), son of Ankesh Chandra of Classic Residency, Flat No 3A, near GNRC Hospital; Chinmoy Chakraborty (27), son of Ambika Chakraborty, a resident of Regent Paradise, Bhetapara and Abinash Mahato (23), son of late Dharmeswar Mahato, a resident of Uzanbazar Wart Street.

They have been charged at the Cyber ​​Police Station with case number 22/24 under Article 468/420/406 of the Criminal Code.

The case was registered following a complaint filed by one Rahit Ali, who reported an unauthorized transaction from his bank account with Federal Bank, Christianbasti branch.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Guwahati Police Commissioner Diganta Barah said that the cybercriminal gangs have opened multiple bank accounts for multiple transactions of the money generated by duping gullible citizens. These gangs do not use their own bank accounts to dupe the gullible public as that would give clues to the investigating agencies which would lead the investigating agencies to the cybercriminals.

“The cyber gangs open multiple bank accounts with fake names and by providing false documents with the help of some unscrupulous bank employees. But nowadays bank employees have become more cautious and these cyber gangs find it difficult to open accounts with fake names and false details,” Barah said.

“They have also started hiring agents to open bank accounts in the names of real individuals with real documents and these accounts will be operated by cybercriminals to generate money through cybercrime,” Barah also said.

Barah further said that these agents target unsuspecting persons, mainly illiterate and people from lower economic classes, and convince them to open bank accounts in exchange for a fixed amount of money. These unsuspecting persons open bank accounts by providing Aadhar Cards, PAN Cards etc. but the phone numbers to be linked to the respective bank accounts are provided by the agents. These agents obtain SIM Cards of various mobile service providers under fake names. Once the bank accounts are opened, the direct Account Kits containing passbook, ATM Cards, cheque books etc. are collected by these agents who hand over these kits to their associates. The bank account kits are passed on through post to their associates who are mainly located in other states and also abroad (mainly in Dubai).

He said that the linked mobile numbers are provided only by these agents. The cybercriminal gang activates the ATM cards through mobile banking and then starts using the respective accounts for various transactions.

He also said that the head agent receives Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 for every bill provided.

“The original account holder does not get to know about the transactions carried out by these gang members on his bank account as messages from the bank only go to the gang’s mobile number,” the police chief said.

When police investigate cyber fraud, they cannot reach the cybercriminals by tracing these bank accounts because the original account holders do not know who controls these bank accounts, Barah said.

He added that the original account holders will be held liable for allowing their bank accounts to be used for cybercrime and will be accused in cases related to cybercrime. The police can take legal action against such account holders.

It was revealed that they rented an apartment in Hatigaon area and carried out their criminal activities from there.

The flat was searched by the police wherein 44 cheque books of different bank accounts in the names of different account holders, 12 bank cards of different account holders, 49 debit/ATM cards of different account holders, 7 foreign currencies from UAE and Thailand, 7 UPI scanners for phone payments, 17 SIM cards of different mobile operators, 3 staff diaries containing details of various transactions, one International Driving License in the name of Anvesh Chandra, 7 mobile phones, one passport in the name of arrested suspect Anvesh Chandra and one Alto car of Anvesh Chandra were also recovered from the parking lot.

The police chief said a total of 606 complaints have been reported to Cyber ​​PS, Panbazar from September 2023 till now, involving a sum of Rs 35.51 crore. Till date, the police have recovered Rs 2.55 crore.