Lodhha Police Station and the Cyber Cell in Aligarh have dismantled a nationwide cyber fraud network accused of orchestrating an ₹85 crore financial crime syndicate through investment lures, fake job offers, and digital arrest threats. Authorities arrested three primary operatives who set up shell company accounts using forged documents to receive and layer stolen funds. The arrests followed cross-referencing on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), where 57 formal complaints were linked directly to the syndicate’s banking nodes.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Ankit Sharma from Krishna Nagar Colony, alongside Mayank Kumar Singh and Vishal Verma, both residents of Shastri Nagar Cantonment Road. During the initial phase of the crackdown, law enforcement officers managed to freeze over ₹2.90 crore held across multiple suspicious bank accounts. Police teams are actively coordinating with multi-state law enforcement agencies to identify intermediate operators and trace the ultimate beneficiaries of the illicit funds.
Multi-State Operations and Modus Operandi
Investigators revealed that the syndicate’s operations extended far beyond Uttar Pradesh, creating a multi-jurisdictional network with active complaint trails across Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, and Karnataka. The gang utilized digital platforms to lure unsuspecting victims with promises of lucrative investment returns and part-time employment schemes. Simultaneously, they deployed high-pressure digital arrest tactics, impersonating government officials to threaten victims with immediate prosecution unless funds were transferred to designated accounts.
Once victims succumbed to the coercion or deceptive offers, the money was funneled into a network of mule accounts to obfuscate the paper trail. The suspects opened corporate accounts in the names of fictitious firms using forged identification and registration papers. Criminal records show that the key suspects have extensive histories of cyber offenses, with Ankit Sharma named in 10 previous cases across Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Andhra Pradesh, while Mayank Kumar Singh and Vishal Verma face six and three criminal cases, respectively.
Banking Disclosures and Account Freezing Measures
The investigation brought to light specific accounts at Bank of Baroda that were heavily utilized to process high-volume fraudulent deposits. An account registered under the shell entity “Mayank Enterprises” was linked to 23 distinct NCRP complaints, having processed approximately ₹4.17 crore in fraudulent transactions. Police intervention led to the freezing of more than ₹1.59 crore remaining within this specific account before it could be siphoned off by overseas handlers.
Similarly, an account directly operated by Ankit Sharma attracted 18 formal complaints, recording illicit throughput of nearly ₹5.25 crore, of which authorities successfully froze ₹80.48 lakh. A joint account managed under the names of Yash and Ankit was tied to 16 complaints involving ₹3.35 crore in fraud, with police freezing approximately ₹48.60 lakh. In total, the frozen funds exceed ₹2.90 crore across these primary accounts, providing a buffer for potential victim restitution.
Evidence Recovery and Ongoing Multi-Agency Coordination
Tactical teams seized a comprehensive array of digital evidence during the raids, including smartphones, forged banking documents, corporate seals, and transaction ledgers. Supervised by Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Manish Kumar Mishra, the joint operation was initiated following intelligence alerts generated by the NCRP portal. Forensic specialists are currently analyzing the recovered mobile hardware to extract communication logs and map out the broader hierarchy of the cyber syndicate.
Law enforcement agencies are expanding their search to apprehend remaining members of the network who remain at large. Authorities are investigating whether the Aligarh module functioned as an independent unit or served as a localized account-generation gateway for larger, international cyber cartels. Further arrests and account freezes are anticipated as police analyze digital evidence and trace secondary bank transfers across partner jurisdictions.
