Ahmedabad: The Gujarat CID Crime’s Cyber Centre of Excellence has arrested four men for their alleged role in a largescale cyberfraud that duped investors across multiple states by luring them with promises of high returns from stock market investments.
Officials said the syndicate is linked to over 428 complaints nationwide involving losses of more than Rs 460 crore.According to police, the accused contacted victims through WhatsApp, posing as officials of a registered brokerage firm. Victims were added to WhatsApp groups where fake success stories and profit screenshots were shared to build credibility. They were then persuaded to download an application named ‘Rockcreek’, register, and begin trading by transferring funds to multiple bank accounts shared by the gang.The application allegedly showed inflated profits in the wallet. However, when victims sought to withdraw money, the app displayed the request as “under process”. The fraudsters later claimed that the account was frozen due to a regulatory probe and demanded additional payments in the name of margin money and other charges. After extracting large sums, the app was shut down and all communication stopped.In one case, a complainant and his daughter were allegedly cheated of Rs 3.90 crore. Investigators said analysis of bank transactions, mobile data, and tower dumps helped trace live locations of the suspects, leading to arrests in Tharad and Bharuch.The arrested accused were identified as Rama Lalji Pandya, Darshankumar Haresh Purohit, Amarat Hamir Joshi, and Radhuram Bhura Pandav, all residents of Banaskantha district. Police said they acted as bank account suppliers and operators for the cyber syndicate, opening accounts in the names of firms such as Darshan Parlour and individuals, and routing fraud proceeds for commission.During the probe, police recovered details of 126 bank accounts allegedly used in cyberfrauds. Checks on national portals revealed at least 30 complaints linked to a single account, involving losses of Rs 11.83 crore, while the wider network was connected to hundreds of cases across states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. Police seized nine mobile phones, two laptops, 13 cheque and passbooks, and seven debit cards. Further investigation is on to identify other members of the interstate and international syndicate.
