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Time of India
20 hours ago
- Time of India
Pune digital arrest case: Pimpri Chinchwad police arrest two with ‘mule' accounts
Pune: Pimpri Chinchwad police's cyber wing arrested two men from Ahilyanagar district on Monday, in connection with the alleged "digital arrest" of a 47-year-old Pune man who lost Rs 53 lakh to fraudsters. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Police claimed the arrested duo from Bolhegaon in Ahilyanagar district — one's a farmer while the other works at a finance company — allowed their bank accounts to be used as "mule accounts". Stolen money would be wired to their accounts and the duo would then withdraw the cash to hand it over to their handlers, the authorities alleged. "Their handler is also from the same village, but is currently based in Pune. Our investigations show the handler had created at least 20 mule accounts in this village. The details of these accounts were handed over to fraudsters based out of Maharashtra," said assistant inspector Pravin Swami, of Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police. The two men arrested on Monday were identified as Akash Pathare (28) and Avinash Tungar (27). They were held as the police investigate the complaint by a Moshi resident who said that on April 2 he received a "letter" via a messaging app that claimed his bank account was being used to launder money and that he faced arrest. One police official said: "The person at the other end told the Moshi resident he was an 'officer' with the Mumbai crime branch. He told the victim the cops and the bank needed to verify his bank account through a money transfer. The victim was even told the bank would return the money to him immediately after verification. Believing all this, the Moshi man transferred Rs 53 lakh to the three bank account numbers given to him. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now He never got the money back." Senior inspector Ravikiran Nale of Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police told TOI that during their investigation, they found Rs 5.4 lakh of the money was transferred to a private bank's account. "So we took the details of this account holder from the bank and found that it was in Ahilyanagar district. We arrested Pathare who revealed three more names. We then arrested Tungar. A search is on for the two others," Nale said.
Hindustan Times
18-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Surat man arrested within 24 hours in cyber fraud case
A 22-year-old office boy working in a lawyer's firm located in Surat was arrested in a cyber fraud case worth ₹1.95 crore reported in Bhosari MIDC. The incident was reported on May 15, and the accused was arrested on May 16 at around 12:25 pm. The accused has been identified as Jenil Vasantbhai Waghela, 22, a resident of Kamrej in Surat. At around 11 am, the accountant of a private company located in Bhosari MIDC received a WhatsApp call from the fraudster. The caller used a profile picture of the director of the company and asked the accountant to transfer ₹1.95 crore to the client of the company for the compilation of the urgent project. The accountant, without verification, transferred the said money. When the company director got a transaction message on his mobile, he came to know about the fraud and immediately approached the cyber cell Pimpri-Chinchwad police. Police immediately began an investigation and realised ₹95 lakh was withdrawn from various parts of the state. Police froze the bank account and were successful in avoiding withdrawal of ₹1 crore. According to assistant police inspector Pravin Swami of the cyber cell, Pimpri Chinchwad, this was the first attempt of the accused, and he received fraudulent money by charging 1% commission. 'At around 1 pm, the complainant approached us. Acting swiftly after the technical analysis, we came to know that the amount was withdrawn from Surat ATM. Already, one of our team members was there related to another case. We have asked him to arrest the suspect,'' he said. Police are now on the lookout for other accused involved in the case. A case has been filed at the cyber police station Pimpri Chinchwad under sections 316 (2), 318(4), 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
Hindustan Times
23-04-2025
- Hindustan Times
Two more arrested for sharing bank account with cybercrime fraudsters
The cyber cell of the Pimpri-Chinchwad police has arrested two individuals for providing mule bank accounts to two fraudsters; one from Pakistan and the other from Dubai, officials said on Tuesday. According to the police, the incident was reported on March 24 when a senior citizen who retired from the state irrigation department lost ₹2.52 crore in a share market fraud. The accused, who later became a police witness, contacted the complainant on social media and promised him high returns on investments. The senior citizen approached the police upon the realisation that he had been duped. The cyber police have already arrested one Balasaheb Sakharam Chaure from Kaij in Beed district in connection with this case. Pravin Swami, assistant police inspector at the cyber cell of Pimpri-Chinchwad police, said, 'During further investigation, it was revealed that some of the fraud money was received in a bank account operating from Sangli. Accordingly, our teams rushed to Sangli and arrested Amol Patil, who has given his bank account to Yunus Dilawar Chaughule on a 6% commission basis.' Both accused were arrested from Sangli on April 17. Yunus Dilawar runs a mobile shop. During further investigation, it was revealed that both arrested accused came in contact with a man from Madhya Pradesh. They visited Madhya Pradesh and worked with him. The police suspect that Yunus Dilawar was tasked with getting bank accounts from Sangli and handing them over to the man based in Madhya Pradesh. Till date, Yunus has handed over 8 to 10 such bank accounts to the Madhya Pradesh-based man against which he received ₹2 to ₹2.5 lakh as commission. The police said that the search for the accused man from Madhya Pradesh is underway. The probe revealed that Chaure was part of a cybercrime gang run by a Pakistani national while Ganesh Kale was from Dubai. Chaure used to provide mule bank accounts from the Marathwada region to the duo. 'Kale was working as a MLM (multilevel marketing) executive in a company where he met Chaure. Kale and the Pakistani national asked Chaure to provide them mule bank accounts on a commission basis. Till date, Chaure has handed over 15 to 20 mule bank accounts from the Marathwada region and received ₹2.5 lakh as commission. He used to collect official documents of uneducated persons, labourers and drivers to open such bank accounts. He was also in contact with cybergangs operating out of Dubai, Nepal and other parts of the world,' said Pravin Swami, assistant inspector, Pimpri-Chinchwad police cyber cell.
