Cyber Criminals Posing As Army Personnel Nabbed In Multi-state Raid
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 5th May 2023: Acting on initial inputs provided by Military Intelligence Southern Command, a notorious cyber fraudster named Sanjeev Kumar, aged 30 years, was apprehended from Bharatpur. He was then jointly interrogated by police from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Military Intelligence Pune.
Police raids were carried out in the Mewat, Nuh, and Deeg areas, which led to the apprehension of nine more cyber criminals. The module included seasoned cyber criminals who had been active for a long time. Many FIRs and police complaints have been filed against the module for duping innocent civilians by posing as Army Men.
The module identified their victims through online house renting and other websites and gained their trust by using morphed identity documents of serving Army personnel Deepak Bajrang Pawar. This made it easier for them to gain the trust of their victims. The module adopted an efficient method of duping wherein they made a notional payment of a few rupees to verify the transaction for the settled deal of renting a property or buying some goods, primarily a second-hand vehicle. They then posed technical issues and requested victims to share OTPs or Scan QR codes, which resulted in the reverse transfer of funds from victims’ accounts.
To evade arrest, accomplices of the module operated from the tri-junction of UP / Haryana/ Delhi/ Rajasthan (Bharatpur/ Mewat region) to create crime jurisdiction complexities, used multiple SIM cards and mobile phones and bank accounts.
Upon coming to notice, investigating authorities examined their patterns and posed as prospective clients. After investigation, the key accused was lured into a trap, which subsequently led to the apprehension of many others. So far, several fabricated Military Identity/Canteen Cards, PAN, Adhar Cards, over three dozen mobile phones, 206 SIM cards, and seven laptops have been recovered from the above spots.
The notorious fraudster module and imposters were also wanted in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and many other states. As per the cybercrime complaint portal, he has duped more than 60 innocent individuals. An FIR against the individual has been lodged at Sarojininagar PS, and the police are further investigating the module.
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