Global Cyber Fraud Syndicate Unveiled: Chinese-Taiwanese Collaboration in Cryptocurrency Scam

RANCHI: The Cyber Station Police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Jharkhand made a significant arrest involving a Taiwan resident who was engaged in cyber fraud in India. Jeevan Gopinath Galdhar, aged 31, originally from Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district, was taken into custody upon his arrival in India from Taiwan. The accused had been flagged in a lookout notice issued against him.

Arrest and Recovered Items

Upon the arrest, authorities seized evidence, including 3300 Taiwan dollars, Rs 48,400 in cash, two mobile phones, two SIM cards, a Bank of Taiwan credit card, four ATMs, Aadhaar and PAN cards, two credit cards, and a passport from Galdhar.

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Fraudulent Activities Unveiled

The case dates back to July 5 when a victim from Dhanbad filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police Station in Ranchi. The victim reported an online fraud scheme involving various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act. The accused had contacted the victim through a profile on www.jeevansathi.com, enticing them to invest in cryptocurrency to earn profits.

The victim was lured into registering on a fake website, www.banocoin.org, and depositing money into different bank accounts through UPI. The victim was then shown false profits on a fabricated website.

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Investigations uncovered the operation of the fraudulent website from locations in Hong Kong, China, and Cambodia. Additionally, analysis of the financial trail revealed multiple bank accounts associated with fake companies registered in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, through which transactions amounting to millions were conducted. The accused defrauded the victim of Rs 95,02,000, prompting immediate action by the police, who froze Rs 67,00,000 across the fraudulent accounts.

Multi-Agency Collaboration and Accomplices

The Cyber Police Station in Ranchi, in collaboration with the Indian Crime Coordination Center and the Cyber Police in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, traced the involvement of a cyber criminal residing in Taiwan. This individual collaborated with a Chinese citizen to set up accounts in India, diverting funds received from part-time job fraud and cryptocurrency scams into various shell companies’ accounts in India. The money was then transferred to different Blockchain wallet addresses on cryptocurrency exchanges. Earlier in the case, two associates of the accused, Prateek Santosh Rawat and Abhishek Tupe, were apprehended in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

Advisory to Prevent Cyber Crimes

The authorities emphasized certain precautions to avoid falling victim to such fraudulent schemes, including refraining from exchanging money with unknown international or virtual numbers, avoiding clicking on unfamiliar links received via SMS, steering clear of investing in unknown bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets, and reporting any instances of fraud to the Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) or www.cybercrime.gov.in. Moreover, users were urged to verify the authenticity of matrimonial sites like jeevansathi.com before engaging with them.