Pakistan-based international gang of fraudsters busted
   Date :20-Oct-2020

Prashant Agrawal_1 &
 
Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal addressing media about arrested members of international gang and recovered money as well as electronic gadgets.
 
Staff Reporter ;
 
RAIPUR,
 
In a major breakthrough against online forgery, Bilaspur Police on Monday claimed to have busted an international gang of fraudsters reportedly being handled by conmen from Pakistan. “An international gang indulged in online forgery and being handled by conmen from Pakistan has been busted with the arrest of its five members from separate locations in the country. The tricksters from Pakistan target people in Hindi-speaking states on the pretext of offering lottery and get money deposited in bank accounts of arrested people, which later transferred to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia through cryptocurrency ‘Bitcoin’,” said Bilaspur Superintendent of Police (SP) Prashant Agrawal.
 
From the possession of arrested conmen, police have recovered Rs 15 lakh cash, three laptops, 13 mobile handsets and bank passbooks, said SP Agrawal, elaborating that with the help of seized passbooks, police managed to block Rs 27 lakh in the accounts. The arrested were identified as Virat Singh (21), Shivam Thakur (20), Sanju Chouhan (20), natives of Madhya Pradesh; Rajesh Jaiswal (55), of Maharashtra; and Sitaram Gauda (35), a native of Odisha, added SP Agrawal. Shedding more details about the forgery, SP Bilaspur informed that “the forgery committed by the Pakistani conmen came to light after 52-year-old Janakram Patel of Bilaspur reported Kotwali police station about being cheated of Rs 65 lakh on the pretext of lucky draw worth Rs 2 crore.
 
On the pretext of fulfilling formalities required for claiming the prize money, the conmen managed to get the massive amount deposited in bank accounts maintained with different banks in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and other states. During investigation of the transactions, police learnt that Rs 50 lakh was transferred into the account of Virat Singh which was later sent to others through UPI and other modes.” Based on prima-facie investigation, police teams were dispatched to Mumbai, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh resulting in the arrest of five conmen, informed SP Agrawal. “During interrogation, Virat revealed of being working on the instruction of Pakistani-based conmen Bade Mamu alias Asgar, Chote Mamu alias Ashraf and Salim, who tricks people by offering massive prize money.
 
To mislead police, the transactions were carried out on multiple levels and eventually the amount was transferred to Pak handler through cryptocurrency. The arrested accused disclosed that Pakistani conmen contact people through WhatsApp voice and video calling,” stated SP Agrawal, adding that after keeping their cut, the money was transferred to other people as instructed by Pakistani conmen. SP Agrawal further informed that Virat was in constant touch with its Pakistani handlers through WhatsApp chat, voice and video calling. The WhatsApp numbers being used by Pak-based conmen were provided by Virat. Police have identified several accused from West Bengal, Bihar, Surat, Uttarakhand and other states and they will be soon in police net. Investigation in connection with the case is underway in several angles, including digital transaction and transaction carried out through cryptocurrency.