Biggest cyber-fraud busted, Rs 1110000000 stolen from 623 bank accounts in…, police say…

Mule accounts are bank accounts made by scamsters using stolen, purchased, or coerced identity documents along with a phone number registered under the same name.

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, the Surat Police have busted a gang involved in laundering money extorted from victims of ‘digital arrest’ scams across the country and even overseas. According to the reports, four suspects have been arrested on November 11 who have revealed their involvement in at least 200 cybercrime fraud cases registered across 15 states and Union territories.

The cybercrime cell of the Ahmedabad police diligently followed the case for three long months and the arrests were made. The police detected that lakhs of money parted with by cyber-fraud victims were first landing in a ‘mule account’, functional on ‘rooted devices’ operated from outside India.

The rooted devices, according to the cops, were set up on Taiwanese technology and connected to a router that bypassed in-built security systems and forwarded all OTPs and calls to another device operated remotely, possibly from Taiwan or Dubai.

The police recovered laptops and computers, 198 bank passbooks, 139 debit cards, 336 SIM cards, 35 cheque books, 16 bank kits and 36 mobile phones.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Bhavesh Rojiya has informed that transactions worth Rs 111 crore were detected from 623 bank accounts. Of these 623 accounts, 370 were actively receiving money from victims of digital arrests, betting scams, investment scams and recovery frauds.

In all, 25 suspects have been arrested in the past three months from Surat. On November 11, suspects Ajay Italiya, Vishal Tummar and Jalpesh Nadiyadara were nabbed from Surat while Hiren Barwaliya was arrested from the Mumbai airport while on way to Dubai. Some other suspects, Milan Vaghela, Jagdish Ajudiya, Ketan Vekariya and Dashrath Dhandhaliya, are absconding, police said.

What Are Mule Accounts?

Mule accounts are bank accounts made by scamsters using stolen, purchased, or coerced identity documents along with a phone number registered under the same name.

Victims are persuaded to share their documents for a small sum of money. It is important to note that victims in these cases are generally the daily workers. The debit cards linked to these accounts are then sent to locations like Dubai and other international destinations, where cash withdrawals are made. Alternatively, the funds are withdrawn and converted into cryptocurrency or transferred overseas through hawala channels, according to police officials.