Bengaluru investment scam busted, 6 held for cheating people of Rs 854 cr
Money invested by the victims was put in banks, but when they tried to withdraw the amount, they never got a refund
Police in Bengaluru have arrested six men for allegedly cheating thousands of Rs 854 crore by promising to give them steep returns from an investment scheme.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said on Saturday that three masterminds behind the cyber fraud scam had been identified and efforts were on to arrest them.
Those already taken into custody are Bengaluru residents Manoj, Panindra, Chakradhar, Shrinivas, Somashekar and Vashanth.
Of the total cheated amount, Rs 5 crore has been frozen, the police said. In Bengaluru alone, the victims were cheated of Rs 49 lakh.
According to Dayananda, the accused lured the victims through WhatsApp and Telegram, asking them to invest small amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to 10,000.
The investors were told they would earn Rs 1,000 to 5,000 per day as profit, a senior officer said.
After earning people’s trust, they were induced to put in larger amounts.
Mass cheating
Thousands of gullible victims invested money ranging from Rs 1 lakh to 10 lakhs or more, the officer said.
"The cheated amount of Rs 854 crore has been transacted by the accused to 84 different bank accounts. Out of the total cheated amount, Rs 5 crore has been frozen," Dayananda added.
The Central Crime Branch had been working on the case for three months before technical surveillance and other leads led to the culprits.
The money invested by the victims was put in different bank accounts. After completing the investment process, when the victims tried to withdraw the amount, they never got any refund.
Once the amount was collected, the accused diverted the consolidated money to mule accounts (related to money laundering), the officer said.
The total Rs 854 crore was dumped into various online payment modes through crypto (Binance), payment gateway and gaming apps among others.
According to the police, the 84 bank accounts in which the money was transferred were opened in different states. Some accounts were opened using fake addresses and identities.
The gang also used genuine bank accounts of some people and paid them commission.
The police investigation showed that 5,013 similar cases of cyber investment fraud have been registered across India.
Equipment like laptops, mobile phones, printers and swiping machines were recovered from the gang.
(With agency inputs)