Five from Bihar arrested for duping people nationwide of Rs 3.5 Crore in cyber fraud

Police said Friday that five members of an inter-state gang, allegedly linked to multiple cybercrimes nationwide, were arrested in Bihar.

The arrests were made in connection with a case filed at Jainath Police Station in Telangana's Adilabad district, where the accused allegedly defrauded a resident of Mandagada village of Rs 3.85 lakh by falsely promising him a franchise under the name of a fertilizer company.

Adilabad District Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan said in a statement that 498 cybercrime complaints had been filed against the accused across the country, with the gang suspected of cheating victims out of nearly Rs 3.5 crore.

In Telangana alone, roughly 90 complaints have been registered against them.

"Five inter-state cyber criminals, who were involved in cyber frauds across the country while residing in Nawada and Nalanda districts of Bihar and leading a seemingly ordinary life, were arrested and sent to judicial remand," the SP said.

Explaining how the accused operated, the senior police official said they built a fake website advertising fertilizer franchises and gathered personal information from victims nationwide through online application forms.

After reaching out to victims via phone calls, WhatsApp and email, the gang collected their Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, photographs and bank account information, then defrauded them by demanding payments in stages — including service charges, licence fees and trade transfer fees, Mahajan said.

The accused also ran a bogus loan scheme, targeting people who searched for loans online. They gathered personal and financial details through online applications and later extracted various fees using victims' Aadhaar and PAN details, cheating them of substantial sums.

Relying on technical evidence and a thorough investigation, police traced and arrested the five accused, recovering 10 mobile phones and Rs 70,000 in cash from them, officials said.

Further investigation showed the accused had funneled around Rs 8 lakh of the fraudulent proceeds into bank accounts and stock market investments. That amount held in bank accounts and shares has since been seized or frozen following due procedure, police added.  (With inputs from PTI)