The Mumbai Crime Branch has apprehended five individuals allegedly operating an international cybercrime syndicate that rented out bank accounts and SIM cards to fraudsters across Thailand, China, Dubai, Cambodia, and Malaysia .
Acting on precise intelligence, the team raided an office near the Kandivli (East) police station on Tuesday, arresting Vaibhav Patil, Sunil Paswan, Aman Gautam, Khusboo Sundarjulia, and Ritesh Bandekar. During the operation, officers confiscated 50 bank passbooks, multiple ATM cards, swiping machines, two laptops, and dozens of SIM cards.
Authorities revealed that the gang entrapped slum dwellers—often daily wage workers—by paying them up to ₹10,000 to open bank accounts using their identity documents. The gang then linked these accounts to its own mobile numbers to control OTPs and conduct large-scale transactions.
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Mule Accounts Fuel Fraud Across Borders
Preliminary investigations indicate these mule accounts facilitated “digital arrest” scams and illicit online gaming frauds. The rented accounts served as anonymity layers, enabling cybercriminals abroad to execute high-value transactions without detection. Analyzing seized data is now central to tracing the syndicate’s overseas connections .
Exploitative KYC Gaps Under Scrutiny
Investigators are probing whether banks violated Know Your Customer (KYC) norms in these account openings. “We’re verifying if bank officials overlooked standard verification procedures,” said a senior Mumbai Crime Branch official .
Further arrests are anticipated as authorities decrypt hundreds of SIMs and bank transaction records. Officials suspect this Mumbai-based hub was part of a broader international operation with roots stretching from Southeast Asia to the Middle East .
