Cyber Crime
Jamtara Cyber Crime Kingpins: 4 Arrested for Widespread Online Fraud Across India
In recent times, several incidents of cyber fraud have been reported in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, specifically targeting Indraprastha Gas and Green Gas connection holders as well as electricity connection holders. These cyber fraudsters have been deceiving people and siphoning off lakhs of rupees from their accounts.
On July 30, 2024, a case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Kanpur Nagar, under FIR number 63/2024, sections 318(4), 338 BNS, and 66D of the IT Act, based on a complaint by Ravindra Singh Negi, son of Tejpal Singh Negi, a resident of Neer Nagar, Kakadeo, Kanpur Nagar. The complainant mentioned that on July 17, 2024, a substantial amount of money was fraudulently withdrawn from his account by the cyber criminals.
Following this complaint, the Police Commissioner of Kanpur Nagar instructed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kanpur Nagar, to devise a comprehensive plan to apprehend the accused and take effective action against such cyber crimes. Subsequently, under the supervision of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, and the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime, a dedicated team from the Cyber Crime Branch, Kanpur Nagar, was deployed to take effective action and arrest the cyber criminals.
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On August 5, 2024, the Cyber Crime Police team achieved significant success by arresting four inter-seasoned cyber criminals near Jajmau Bridge, Kanpur. During the arrest, 12 mobile phones and pre-activated SIM cards with fake IDs, used in the frauds, were recovered. The four cybercriminals arrested are residents of Jamtara, Jharkhand. They used to send specially designed APK files via WhatsApp messages to the mobile numbers of individuals who had Green Gas, Indraprastha Gas, and electricity connections. By obtaining crucial data through these APK files, they would fraudulently withdraw money from their victims’ bank accounts using online banking and payment wallets/apps. The money obtained through cyber fraud was then withdrawn from various ATMs located in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Sikkim. They would also use these fraudulently obtained funds to pay electricity bills, recharge mobile phones, and at petrol pumps, and subsequently divide the cash among themselves.
The four arrested cyber criminals are originally from Deoghar and Jamtara, Jharkhand, but they were living in rented rooms in Madhubani, Bihar, to avoid being traced. They frequently changed locations, staying in hotels in places like Darbhanga, Siliguri, Darjeeling, and Gangtok, and used various mobile devices and fake ID SIM cards to carry out their cyber fraud activities. Based on the mobile numbers used by these cyber criminals, information was obtained from the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal NCRP (1930) indicating that they had conducted several cyber frauds in Uttar Pradesh, specifically in Lucknow, Agra, and Kanpur. Coordination was established with the cyber crime police of the relevant districts, and police teams have been dispatched to Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Sikkim to arrest other members of the gang.
The arrested individuals and recovered items are as follows:
- Bharat Kumar Mandal (previously jailed for cyber crimes in Haryana in 2020 and Deoghar, Jharkhand in 2022).
- Sanoj Mandal
- Deepak Mandal
- Krishna Kumar Mandal