Uttarakhand Police Uncover Fake Currency Syndicate With West Bengal Links

The accused arrested in Haldwani fake note case would convert online gaming money into cryptocurrency

Haldwani:The Uttarakhand Police have arrested three more accused, including kingpin Shubham Verma, in the fake currency racket case. With this, the total number of arrests in the case rises to 11. The police saw the development as a breakthrough as it unearthed alleged links in West Bengal.

Police Circle Officer Nitin Lohani confirmed the arrests and added that the accused had been served with notices under 35(3) BNS.

On October 9, the police arrested a jeweller from Lalkuan and seized fake currency notes worth Rs. 9,000 from his possession, while seven other gang members were arrested with fake notes valued at over Rs. 3,46,500.

Fake Note Syndicate

The initial probe revealed that the gang would use Shubham's bank account to convert money earned illegally through online gaming and other means into cryptocurrency.

However, the account was blocked by the central government after an agency flagged the suspicious transactions. The account has a limit of Rs. 2 crore but shows transactions of Rs. 1 crore every month, and the money is withdrawn within two to three days.

How Scam Worked

The gang’s modus operandi, as per police, was that they would invest money through the online gaming app Binance and Instagram group 99 ECH.

"Gang members such as Rehan, Shakir Khan, and Sandeep Panwar would participate in the game using fake identities. They would deposit funds from Shubham's account. The money was then withdrawn using cryptocurrency," police stated.

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