Ludhiana: For the price of a coffee, local labourers and students handed over their bank accounts to a multi-state cyber ring for masking digital theft. While the “mules” earned a few hundred rupees, their handlers in Dubai and Delhi were siphoning off crores in a sophisticated layer-cake of financial fraud.Police have arrested nine people — including a female kingpin — in connection with a ₹78-crore fraud. The syndicate allegedly used a web of “mule accounts” belonging to labourers and students to funnel illicit gains from investment scams and online shopping frauds. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal has already linked the group to 200 complaints across India.The Dubai ConnectionKhanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Darpan Ahluwalia has claimed that the operation was spearheaded by Aaliya Ahmed, a Delhi-based woman who allegedly took orders from bosses in Dubai. “Ahmed travelled to Dubai frequently for strategic meetings with the syndicate’s leadership,” Ahluwalia said. “The investigation has exposed a multi-layered hierarchy designed to distance the masterminds from the ground-level transactions.“Exploiting the VulnerableThe gang’s “Level-1” infrastructure relied on 53 bank accounts opened in the Khanna police district. To secure these accounts, the accused targeted low-income labourers and students, often paying a pittance for access to their identities. Account holders were paid just ₹500 to open an account. For every fraudulent transaction processed, the “mule” received a commission ranging from ₹15,000 to ₹20,000.The scheme came to light when a local college student approached police after receiving an unexpected notice from the income tax department regarding high-value transactions in his name. “They used these accounts for everything from high-stakes investment fraud via Telegram to small-scale retail scams, such as pocketing ₹2,700 for a dress that was never delivered,” the SSP noted.Widening InvestigationOf the 53 identified mule accounts, police have only fully audited seven, so far. Despite this limited scope, they have already traced transactions exceeding ₹43.5 lakh. The probe has also uncovered a secondary nexus involving goods and services tax (GST) fraud. One of the arrested men, Vicky Prasad, is allegedly linked to a racket in Mandi Gobindgarh that created “shell firms” to claim fraudulent tax credits.The nine in custody include individuals from Delhi, Ludhiana, Khanna, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, highlighting the cross-border nature of the syndicate. Police say several other associates remain at large and are currently being tracked via digital footprints. EOM MSID:: 128611568 413 |
