New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, Hyderabad Police uncovered a massive investment fraud worth Rs 712 crore. The operation involved Chinese operators based in Dubai.
Police arrested nine individuals in connection with the fraudulent scheme. As per the Police, almost 15,000 Indians were duped by fraudulent investment scheme.
As per the police, the entire task-based investment fraud was being run by Chinese masterminds. They lured victims by sending messages through Telegram to run these scams.
WHAT WAS THE SCAM?
The scam came to light after a complaint was lodged on the issue in Hyderabad. Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, speaking on the complaint logged, explained how the scammers lure people by offering them a part-time job with easy tasks to earn money.
“Based on the complaint lodged by the complainant of Chikkadpally, Cyber Crime Police had registered a case in Cr. No. 598/2023. The complainant said that he was offered a part-time job at ‘Rate and Review’ via the telegram app, he believed it to be genuine and registered on their website https://www.traveling-boost-99.com. Initially, he was given simple tasks to give a 5-star rating to one set of 5 tasks by loading /investing a smaller amount of Rs 1000 and he earned Rs 866 profit.” Anand said.
In its investigation of the lodged complaint, the Cyber Crime police found that the Rs 28 lakhs that the victim had lost in the investment fraud were traced to six different accounts. One of these accounts was under the name “Radhika Marketing.” From this account, the money was further transferred to various other bank accounts in India. Eventually, the fraudulent funds were routed to Dubai, where they were used to purchase cryptocurrency.
“During the course of the investigation, it is found that Rs 28 lakhs that the victim lost had been transferred to 6 accounts including an account maintained in the name of Radhika Marketing from there the money has been transferred to various other Indian banks accounts and finally in Dubai the fraudulent money was used to purchase cryptocurrency,” Ananda said.
ARRESTED ACCUSED:
The nine arrested are from different Indian states: Mumbai, Lucknow, Gujarat, and Hyderabad. They have been identified as Prakash Mulchandbhai Prajapati, Kumar Prajapati, Naimuddin Wahiduddin Shaik, Gagan Kumar Soni, Parveez aka Guddu, Shameer Khan, Mohammed Munawar, Shah Sumair, and Arul Dass.
The police seized several items from the accused. The confiscated items included 17 mobile phones, 2 laptops, 22 SIM cards, 4 debit cards, documents related to 33 companies, 3 bank cheque books, 12 currency notes, and 6 coins of Chinese yuan currency. Additionally, one passport was also taken into custody during the operation.
TRANSFER OF FUNDS:
Police informed that the scammers used different shell companies and several bank accounts to transfer the fraudulent money to Dubai.
“They opened 33 shell companies and 61 accounts in the name of companies and handed over the same to Manish. Manish had hired Gagan for web designing of the companies and Nayeem to coordinate with the account holders. After opening the accounts he sold the accounts to Kumar Prajapati, an associate of Prakash Prajapati,” CV Anand said.
The defrauded amount was initially credited to primary shell or mule bank accounts, which were supplied by Prakash Prajapati, one of the arrested accused. The money was then sent through a series of secondary bank accounts. The fraudulent funds were then converted from Indian rupees to USDT (Cryptocurrency), and ultimately, the funds were funnelled to Chinese beneficiaries.
During the course of the investigation, the police discovered that Prakash Prajapati had provided over 65 accounts to the Chinese masterminds, where transactions totaling Rs 128 crore had taken place, and the other accounts through which the fraud money was converted to USDT (Cryptocurrency) had a volume of Rs 584 crore, making a total theft of over Rs 712 crore.
CAUTION:
Hyderabad police cautioned the public not to believe in any task-based investment offers on the internet and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram. The police further said not to invest in any unauthorised websites that promise high returns by investing small amounts of money.