Uttarakhand STF nabs gang leader for duping people of Rs 21 crore promising work-from-home jobs

The gang lured job aspirants by offering high commission in online hotel booking job. Initially, victims were given some commission but in the end, the cyber fraudsters would empty their bank accounts. The gang has duped people of Rs 21 crore and a youth from Uttarakhand was cheated of Rs 20 lakh

Dehradun:The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the leader of a cyber fraudster gang involved in duping people of Rs 21 crore on the pretext of offering 'work from home' (WFH) jobs. The accused has 37 cases registered against him across the country and 855 cyber criminal cases. Also, he reportedly has connections in China and cheated clients by opening fake bank accounts.

A man from Uttarakhand, who was looking for online jobs, filed a complaint with cyber police alleging that he was cheated by cyber fraudsters of Rs 20 lakh promising online job opportunities. In his complaint, the victim said that he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number offering him WFH job at Marriott Bonvoy hotel group. He received a message from '@soni2343' on Telegram App to get employed.

The caller identified herself as Sonia from the famous hotel group Marriott Bonvoy and promised him a handsome income. The victim was told that he could earn commission by booking hotels online. For which, Sonia sent him a link of a fake hotel site and he got added to the Telegram group through a link.

The victim was asked to transfer a total of Rs 19,94,853 to different accounts as part of his assignment and in the process got cheated of Rs 20 lakhs. On the basis of the victim's complaint, a case was registered against the unknown accused. A team was set up and investigations revealed that the accused was from Haryana. The STF team arrested Rishabh Sharma in Gurugram in Haryana.

Police said the gang trapped people luring them of commission while working from home. Although initially, the victims are given some commission, later on cyber fraudsters end up emptying their bank accounts.

Further investigations revealed that the gang even duped Chinese customers by opening dummy bank accounts in Gujarat's Surat and Baroda, Delhi NCR's Gurgaon and Noida and Ludhiana in Punjab. All these accounts were 'current accounts', where PAN cards are needed for opening such accounts while Aadhar card details are used for generating SMS alerts.

Net banking credentials were given to foreign customers, who used it for crypto purchases. These bank accounts were used for withdrawing money for different fake investment models. Accounts were opened in the name of agricultural firms/ societies to avoid scrutiny. Police said Rishab himself duped Rs 4.78 lakh from a Chinese customer while opening two accounts and operating those for two days.

SSP STF Ayush Aggarwal said that after checking the mobile numbers and bank accounts of the accused it was found that 37 cases have been registered against him. Of which, 12 cases are in Telangana, nine in Delhi, four in Uttar Pradesh, three in Chhattisgarh, two each in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka and one in Chandigarh.

Of the 855 cyber criminal cases lodged against the gang, 187 are in Uttar Pradesh, 97 in Rajasthan, 88 in Maharashtra, 70 in Delhi, 55 in Telangana, 51 in Bihar and 47 in Haryana, police said.