Bhubaneswar: The Cyber Crime Unit of Odisha Crime Branch arrested eight inter-state cyber fraudsters from different areas of New Delhi, Fatehpur & Mau in Uttar Pradesh.
The arrested accused persons are identified as Raghu Anand (31), Bhim (33 ), Rupali Gupta alias Aditi Aggrwal (26), Pramoda Valli (66 Yrs), Yogendra Singh, Bhanu Pratap Yadav (47), Ashish Kumar (24) and Tej Kumar (60). “They are part of a group of cyber fraudsters who were cheating innocent people in the name of Insurance Policy and Loan,” the Crime Branch said in a press note.
Based on the report of one, Dilip Kumar Jalan, a resident of Bhubaneswar, he and his wife had become victims of insurance fraud to the tune of Rs. 76,15,955. The informant’s wife had an HDFC life insurance policy with a maturity amount of Rs. 20 lakhs.
At the beginning of July, several unidentified individuals contacted him from several mobile numbers to upgrade the policy. One such offer was to upgrade the existing Rs. 20 lakhs policy to Rs. 2.75 crore and facilitate an early release. He was convinced by these callers to deposit different amounts in four separate accounts. He deposited Rs. 76,15,955, following their directions, in four separate bank accounts SBI (2), Kotak Mahindra (1) and Axis Bank (1) between July 5, 2023 and September 28, 2023.
After collecting necessary information and digital evidence and tracing the locations of the accused persons residing outside Odisha, three teams of the Cyber Crime Unit, CID CB proceeded to New Delhi, Fatehpur & Mau in UP.
During the investigation, it came to light that the accused persons, Bhim, Raghu Anand, and Rupali Gupta had earlier worked in the Insurance and Loan-related field. The accused, Bhim used to collect information regarding policyholders or those seeking loans from various sources. These three operated like a call centre and contacted those persons.
Using that experience, they allured the informant by saying that his wife’s Insurance Policy, whose maturity amount was Rs. 20 lakhs can be upgraded to Rs. 2.75 crores by paying some charges. On that guise, they convinced the informant to deposit money into the accounts of 4 persons Pramoda Bali – Rs. 28.73 lakhs (SBI); Tej Kumar – Rs. 8.32 lakhs (SBI); Kavya Singh – Rs. 27.54 lakhs (Axis); and Asish Kumar – Rs. 11.56 Lakhs (Kotak Mahindra).
After siphoning off Rs. 76,15,955 from the informant, the accused persons, Raghu Anand, Rupali Gupta & Bhim transferred money into the bank accounts of Bhanu Pratap Yadav. Subsequently, Raghu Anand and Bhim who are the main brains behind the crime, withdrew the money from various ATMs.
Articles seized from the possession of the accused persons include Rs. 9,30,800 cash, gold and silver jewellery, 21 Debit cards, 9 Credit cards, one Laptop, 17 mobile phones, 22 SIM cards, 1 SD card, 4 Pen Drives, 5 Aadhar Cards, 2 PAN Cards, 2 Driving Licenses and 7 ID cards.
“The accused persons were forwarded to the court of SDJM, Bhubaneswar u/s 419/ 420/ 465/ 467/ 471/ 120-B/ 34 IPC r.w 66-C/ 66-D of the IT Act, after availing transit remand from New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. An investigation is continuing,” the Crime Branch said in the press note.
