5 held in Gujarat in Rs 1,310 cr cyber fraud case

Police in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath have busted a cyber fraud racket involving suspicious transactions of more than Rs 310 crore through mule bank accounts and arrested five persons, with the investigators terming it as the biggest cyber crime case detected in the district so far.

Superintendent of Police Jaideepsinh Jadeja said the case was registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station as part of the state-wide “Operation Mule Hunt 2.0”, launched recently to identify mule account holders, crack down on cyber fraud networks and facilitate recovery of money lost by victims. A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to receive, transfer, or launder illicit funds with or without the knowledge of the account holder.

“This is the biggest cybercrime case registered in the district. The operation aims to ensure that money lost by cyber crime victims is returned at the earliest and to curb the growing practice of renting out bank accounts for illegal activities,” Jadeja told reporters on Sunday.

According to police, the investigation centred on Akash Pala, a resident of the district capital Veraval, whose two bank accounts were allegedly used for cyber fraud transactions across the country.

One account in Bank of India was linked to 193 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and showed suspicious transactions worth about Rs 282 crore. Another account in Canara Bank was linked to 97 complaints involving transactions of around Rs 37 crore. Police said a total of 290 complaints from different parts of the country were linked to the two accounts, with suspicious transactions exceeding Rs 310 crore. The racket came to light during analysis of complaints available on the NCCRP and Samanvay portals, as well as scrutiny of mule accounts identified by law enforcement agencies. Officials found that the account holder had allegedly rented out his bank accounts for cyber fraud activities in exchange for commission, said a release by the district police.

Following the registration of the case, the cybercrime police launched an investigation and arrested Pala. Subsequent technical analysis and interrogation led to the arrest of four more accused.

The arrested persons have been identified as Akash Pala, Deepak Giri - both from Veraval; Hiren Rajgor, Ajay Dafda - both from Rajkot, and Ashutosh Thakar from Devbhumi Dwarka. The police said further investigation is underway to identify other persons involved in the network and trace the flow of funds.  Earlier this month, the police busted a cyber fraud racket involving illegal transactions of Rs 398.43 crore through 13 mule accounts, and arrested 14 people from Patan district in Gujarat under ‘Operation Mule Hunt 2.0’.