NEW DELHI: Four online fraudsters have been arrested for allegedly running a multi-city racket to dupe people on the pretext of booking discounted flight tickets, an official said on Thursday.
The police recovered $47 lakh in cash and a Mercedes S-Class car, among other items, were in the possession of the accused, the official said.
The accused have been identified as Mridul Joshi, the mastermind, Himanshu Anil Sharma, Gaurav and Rakesh.
“The syndicate was operating across Delhi, Goa and Mumbai, targeting victims through social media platforms and fake travel booking services,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Goel said in a statement.
According to the police, the case came to light after a complaint was filed with the Southwest District Cyber Police Station on April 7. The complainant alleged that his brother, who resides in Canada, had been cheated $3.8 lakh while trying to book flight tickets from Toronto to Delhi through a social media page offering discounted prices.
The victim was contacted via a US number and persuaded to transfer money after confirming confirmed bookings, which later turned out to be fraudulent. A team was formed to investigate the matter and analyze digital fingerprints and records of call details and financial transactions.
Investigators traced the operation to a coordinated network extending to multiple locations. Police said Joshi was running the operation from Patel Nagar in Delhi and set up a fake call center in Goa to target victims. He arranged bank accounts from Mumbai to channel and withdraw the fraudulent funds.
“Raids were carried out in several locations, which led to Joshi’s arrest and recovery $“47 lakh in cash, a Mercedes S-Class, seven mobile phones, two laptops, a point of sale machine and a WiFi router,” the DCP said.
Further investigation led to the arrest of Sharma from Palghar district in Maharashtra, who was involved in providing bank accounts. Two other accused, Gaurav and Rakesh, were also arrested for providing bank accounts used to embezzle funds.
Police recovered additional mobile phones, fake SIM cards, ATM cards and bank documents from the accused.
“The extortion operation operated through a website and social media platforms, luring victims with attractive discounts on international flight tickets. The payments were collected under false assurances and the accused used multiple accounts to conduct the transactions,” the officer said.
Initial investigations revealed that the syndicate may have deceived many victims across the country, as about 19 complaints were registered on the National Cybercrime Portal related to transactions worth about $25 lakh. Further investigations are underway to determine the identity of the other members.
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