The Karnataka Police investigation into a cyber fraud case, in which a victim lost Rs 3.80 lakh, has resulted in the solving of 29 cases across 11 states, involving the siphoning of Rs 40 crore.
The police arrested Hardeep Singh, 40, a resident of Patna in Bihar, on July 12 after finding through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) that his accounts were allegedly involved in these cases, including the biggest fraud where a victim from Tamil Nadu lost Rs 9 crore.
The Uttara Kannada CEN police registered a case on October 23 last year, when a person named Raphael Fernandes from Karwar filed a complaint stating that his brother, Wilson Fernandes, had lost Rs 3.80 lakh to cyber fraudsters. According to the complaint, he had received a call from someone claiming to be from the police department that there was a courier in his name, which contained the banned narcotic substance MDMA. After someone posed as a Mumbai crime branch police officer, Fernandes allegedly transferred money to fraudsters.
The police brought the accused to Karwar after arresting him in Bihar. A probe revealed that his accounts were used not just for digital arrests but also for investment frauds and that he was part of a larger nexus, said a police officer.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Singh allegedly had eight savings accounts and two current accounts in his name, which were used to siphon huge amounts of money from fraudsters. He received more than Rs 1 crore as commission for it, said a police officer.
B Ashwini, Deputy SP of Uttara Kannada CEN police station, said, “Upon checking, we found that he was running a small jewellery shop, often known as a one-gram gold shop. He had a GST number for his shop and also had a Udyam certificate issued by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which helped him to open current accounts as well.”
In Tamil Nadu, Rs 9.09 crore was siphoned off, in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 2.47 crore, in Bengaluru’s Marathahalli, Rs 80 lakh, and in Pulikeshi Nagar, Bengaluru, Rs 74.60 lakh, the police said.
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A police officer said Singh attempted to bribe the police, claiming he had done so previously to avoid detection.