100 phone numbers, e-commerce and UPI platforms: how Delhi Police tracked gang which cheated woman of Rs 11 lakh through Telegram ‘paid task scam'
According to the Delhi Police, they arrested Kartik Saini, 20; Varun Kumar, 21; Sharim Khan, 20; Humaid Khan, 20; and Suhail Saifi, 20, after conducting raids in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut and Muzzafarnagar. The police said all of them were allegedly on the payroll of the Russia-based MBBS student Sameer Malik.
According to the police, the case came to light when a woman from Shastri Nagar filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) claiming that she lost Rs 11 lakh while doing 'paid tasks' for a Telegram channel.
'During the inquiry, the victim said she came across a link on Telegram promoting paid tasks. She was promised money for writing reviews and liking videos,' Raja Banthia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), said.
The fraudsters told the woman that she had earned money through these tasks, but she would have to pay upfront as proof of her legitimate bank account credentials to receive the amount. 'She was then told that she would have to transfer different amounts to different accounts as the money she had earned would be transferred to her through different accounts,' a police officer said.
The woman was made to pay Rs 11 lakh in different accounts. Out of the Rs. 11 lakh, Rs 2.75 lakh were transferred using Varun Kumar's chain of accounts, and Rs. 2.80 lakh were credited to accounts maintained by Humaid Khan, who also transferred Rs 1 lakh to Saifi in his account for his services, the police said.
A team — under Inspector Rohit Gahlot, SHO, Cyber Police Station, and Inspector Manish Kumar — tracked the phone numbers used to send the links through Telegram. The Call Detail Record (CDR) details of these phone numbers showed that they contacted more than 100 numbers, with the police tracking all of them along with their online and offline activities.
'Hundred mobile numbers and IMEIs were tracked, and a thorough search of the money trail among several bank accounts was continuously carried out. Access details from e-commerce and UPI platforms such as PhonePe, Paytm, Rapido, Porter, Swiggy, Zomato, and Bluedart were also taken,' said Banthia.
Four common numbers were identified during the tracking, which sent most of the links and were also contacting each other. The location of those numbers led the police to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. On June 25, the police got hold of Kartik Saini and Varun Kumar after a raid in Meerut.
'Kartik Saini disclosed that he opened accounts and provided all the net banking IDs, passwords, corporate IDs, and account-linked SIMs to Varun Kumar, and got Rs. 8,000 for each account. Varun Kumar disclosed he provided the details of these accounts to a man named Yash, for a commission of 5 per cent on each transaction,' Banthia said.
Yash, the police said, was working for Malik, who was orchestrating the fraud. Yash would get the scammed amount transferred to the accounts given by Varun, who would then ask Kartik to encash it. Varun would then take the cash and transfer the amount to Yash using USDT. Yash would send the same to Russia, the police said.
The police said the money trail led them to another chain of accounts at play in the alleged scam. Following the trail of the money, the police discovered phone numbers linked to Muzzafarnagar, and on July 7, they arrested Sharim Khan, Humaid Khan, and Suhail Saifi during a raid.
'Sharim Khan and Suhail Saifi disclosed that they opened accounts and provided all the details of the bank account to Humaid Khan,' DCP Banthia said.
Humaid, the police said, was again wiring the amount to Sameer in Russia, just like Varun.
With more than half of the complainant's amount still untraced, the police said other factors could also be at play, and that an investigation is going on.
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