Pramesh S Jain
Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police investigating an online trading and investment fraud involving Rs.93.58 lakh have arrested three persons and uncovered a network allegedly involving the procurement and supply of 507 bank accounts to cyber fraudsters.
A case was registered on April 29,2026,after complainant Harish Kumar K.N. was allegedly induced to transfer Rs.93,58,555 to various bank accounts and was cheated.
The main accused,A-1 Amit Mishra, was arrested on September 8 at around 9.30 pm and was taken into police custody from September 9 to 16.
During his interrogation,the alleged involvement of A-4 Tausif Ahmed and A-5 Parashuram Sadanand Kannanavar alias Pavan Kumar came to light.
Both were arrested on September 9 and subsequently taken into police custody till September 16.
During interrogation,police recorded the voluntary statements of all three accused and, after obtaining court permission,examined their seized mobile phones.
Investigators recovered WhatsApp and Telegram chats, bank account details and other digital evidence.
According to the investigation,the accused allegedly procured current,corporate and trust bank accounts, net-banking credentials and linked SIM cards from account holders by offering them commissions.
The account holders were allegedly accommodated in hotels,where ZNPAY/SMS-forwarding APKs were installed to forward banking OTPs and SMS messages to cyber fraudsters.
The arrangement allegedly enabled cyber fraudsters to remotely operate the bank accounts and transfer proceeds of cybercrime.
The account holders,accused and other intermediaries allegedly received commissions in return.
Examination of the seized mobile phones revealed information relating to 507 bank accounts allegedly collected from various persons and supplied to cyber fraudsters.
Police found that approximately Rs.13 lakh in cyber-fraud proceeds was transferred through a Bank of Indian Bank account,while more than Rs.38 lakh was transferred through an IndusInd Bank current account.
Police have seized six mobile phones from the three accused. Details of the ZNPAY/SMS Forwarding APK and 51 other APK files have been sent to the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) for technical analysis.
The digital investigation also identified Telegram and WhatsApp accounts allegedly used by the accused and other absconding cyber fraudsters.
Preliminary IP and geolocation analysis indicated network locations associated with Kolkata,Hong Kong and California,USA.
Police said further verification is being carried out through service-provider records and other technical evidence.
Investigators are now examining the KYC details,bank statements,money trail,NCRP and cybercrime complaint linkages of the 507 accounts,linked SIM cards,APK infrastructure,WhatsApp and Telegram communications, IP logs,intermediaries and ultimate beneficiaries.
A-2 Anoop alias Julpi and other persons allegedly operating Telegram IDs @zhangxueyou123 and @SZNKM,along with other accused,are yet to be traced.
The investigation has also revealed alleged links involving Sumon,Nick,Dilawar,Iftikhar,
Mishra was further allegedly connected with Nawaz, Shihab Boy,Dinesh,Sulpikar and Ashraf,who were in turn linked to Jayakumar,Pavan Kumar and Tausif Ahmed.
Police said the specific roles and extent of involvement of the persons are being investigated.
