Siddarth Sethia
The Whitefield Division Cyber Crime Police are on the lookout for two “hoarders” who are part of an online cybercrime network and allegedly collected bank accounts from gullible individuals by offering them money to use the accounts for cybercrime activities.
The crime coccurred in May 2024 came to light on Thursday when cyber crime police probing a cyber crime case and tracking the money trail confronted a 21-year-old Roshan Kumar Roy,working as Cheff for city based private company whose bank account has been used for cyber crime money transactions.
Upon inquiry the complainant stated that his friends introduced him to two persons—Sadiq and Shrujan offered him easy money,claiming that he could earn Rs. 500 within five minutes in a single day for sharing his bank account.
The accused reportedly persuaded him to open bank accounts and hand over the documents,assuring him that money would be credited.
Acting on their instructions,the complainant shared the detailed to open saving bank accounts with Federal Bank account and Karnataka Bank .
On the same day, Rs.6,000 was transferred to the Karnataka Bank account.
The accused allegedly withdrew Rs.6,000 using the complainant’s debit card from an ATM and gave him only Rs.1,000, while retaining the rest. They took the bank documents assuring money and left .
The scam came to light when White field police came in search Roshan Kumar Roy to inquire about a cyber crime case .
During a subsequent police verification and financial analysis, it was revealed that a total amount of Rs. 30,83,403.40 had been transferred through the Federal Bank account and ₹19,92,432 through the Karnataka Bank account.
The complainant claimed he was unaware of these transactions and alleged that Sadiq and shrujan used his bank accounts as mule accounts to route proceeds of cyber fraud and illegally withdraw money.
Based on the complaint, police have registered a case at the concerned police station under Sections 66(C) ( identity theft) and 66(D) (impersonation ) of the Information Technology Act, Sections 318(4) ( cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, for further investigation.
It may be recalled that cyber crime officials of the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) carried out a massive statewide operation in connection with mule bank accounts used by cyber fraudsters to receive money from their victims, arrested 13 masterminds by identifying over 42,000 suspicious accounts.
