Delhi police bust pan-India cybercrime syndicate

The Hindu

2 days ago

The Delhi police have dismantled a pan-India cybercrime syndicate involved in large-scale banking frauds, whose network was operating through multiple verticals, including fake loan call centres and an orchestrated sextortion racket.
A senior police officer said the racket comprised social media profile analysts, extortion callers, and individuals impersonating as police officers to intimidate victims with false legal threats unless they complied with extortion demands. Police received a tip-off on May 24 regarding the movement of a consignment— suspected to contain synthetic bank account kits — around New Ashok Nagar. These kits were reportedly being used in various high-tech crimes such as sextortion, cyberfraud, banking scams, debit/credit card cloning, etc., crimes that have seen a recent surge both in frequency and sophistication.
'Police intelligence revealed that the kits were to be delivered and distributed near Mayur Vihar Phase-1 Extension. Based on the severity of the crimes associated with such kits, teams were formed to arrest the accused,' police said. Three accused — Ujjawal Pandey, 30, Gaurav Barua, 24, and Yug Sharma, 19 — were arrested. Synthetic bank account kits and other relevant digital and financial paraphernalia, which included pre-activated SIM cards, forged bank documents, debit/credit cards linked to dummy or fraudulent accounts, and mobile devices for real-time transaction control, were seized from them.
These items collectively formed what is termed a 'synthetic financial identity', allowing cybercriminals to operate untraceable, modular shadow banking systems. By combining communication channels with financial tools, fraudsters could bypass basic KYC and transaction verification mechanisms, enabling seamless control over fraudulent banking activities. Once prepared, these kits were sold to or distributed among cybercrime networks operating across different scams.
7 held post-raid
A raid was conducted at the instance of the accused persons, that led the police to a fraudulent operation functioning around Mundka, where seven individuals were arrested. Among the arrested individuals, Dilshad Ali emerged as a key operative. Investigations revealed that Dilshad, along with his associate Amit, who is absconding, was running a fake bank loan provider call centre. Dilshad acted as the team leader, while Amit is identified as the owner of the operation. Amit's role involved the procurement and facilitation of fraudulent bank accounts and fake SIM cards, which were further handed over to Dilshad for use in the scam.
The modus operandi of the call centre was to defraud individuals by offering fake bank loans. Initially, telemarketers under Dilshad's direction contacted potential victims, offering them attractive loan deals. Upon gaining the victim's trust, the telemarketer would request identification and other personal documents via WhatsApp. The victim was then asked to make a payment through a QR code scanner, under the pretext of file processing fees. After the payment was received, the victim's follow-up messages and calls were ignored. The fraudsters would then switch off their mobile devices and change their contact numbers, effectively cutting off all communication, police said.
Meanwhile, for the second fraud, police said, the individuals employed a deceitful method to lure and exploit victims. Initially, they would send friend requests on Facebook and obtain the victim's mobile number through Facebook Messenger. Subsequently, they would initiate a video call on WhatsApp, during which they would stream pornographic clips, secretly recording the victim's screen and reactions using screen recording tools. The recorded content was then used to blackmail the victim under threats of publicly circulating the video on social media platforms, thereby coercing them into transferring money.