Bhubaneswar, July 10 (IANS) The Cyber Crime Unit of Odisha Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested 15 members of a cyber criminals racket involved in duping gullible persons on the pretext of high returns against investments in Cryptocurrency, stocks and IPO shares, said a senior official of Odisha Police.
The crime branch sleuths have arrested the two masterminds Tushar Sharma and Bhavesh Thakur from Delhi who were running the cyber criminal racket.
The accused persons identified as Ranjit Kumar Bal of Kendrapara, Dillip Kumar Lenka of Balasore, Sunil Prasad of Ganjam, and Bishikesan Padhy alias Siba from Rayagada in connivance with the masterminds duo used to get current accounts opened in different banks to facilitate the transfer of funds.
Similarly, Kalandi Singh and Sudhansu Bhusan Pattanaik from Khordha, Udaybhanu Ghadei of Bhubaneswar, Jiten Barad of Nayagarh, Bharat Bhusan Chakra of Jagatsinghpur, Bikash Chandra Rout and Uttam Kumar Sahu of Bhadrak, Satya Ranjan Sahoo from Balasore and Amit Kumar Rout of Ganjam had opened bank accounts in their own name and utilised it for transferring the fraudulently obtained money.
The accused fraudsters have been arrested in connection with a case based on a complaint lodged by a victim from Bhubaneswar who alleged that some individuals posing as staff at a securities company, representative of Blackstone Investment Group, involved in online trading, along with some others defrauded him to the tune of more than Rs 3 crore.
The crime branch sources said that the victim received a message on Facebook on March 29 inviting him to join a WhatsApp group focused on institutional trading with discounts on shares and promising high returns on investments.
Persuaded by the cyber fraudsters, the victim transferred a total of Rs 3, 04, 00,000 from five of his accounts to various accounts specified by cyber criminals until June 11, 2024. Despite his attempts, he was unable to withdraw any funds.
“When he requested withdrawal, he was asked to pay a 20 per cent management fee on his profits, which they claimed had exceeded 300 per cent. His requests went unanswered and the persons as well as the accounts went unreachable, following which he realized that he had fallen victim to a meticulously planned conspiracy and online fraud by this group and their associates,” added the official.
The cops during the investigation found that the cyber criminals used to identify their targets through social media and invited them to join WhatsApp or Telegram groups for discussions on trading and investment.
Subsequently, the victims were enticed into opening fake trading accounts with the promise of high returns. Although the victims could see that their money was apparently growing in the fake trading platform, they were prevented from making any withdrawals. When they attempted to withdraw, more money was extorted under the guise of processing fees and other charges.
–IANS
gyan/dan
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
