Cyberabad cops bust international gang using ‘mule’ bank accounts for cyber crimes; 5 held
All of them are from Hyderabad, except for Arif Saifi who is from Uttarakhand
By Newsmeter Network Published on 18 May 2024 4:27 PM GMT
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Hyderabad: The Commissioners Task Force, East Zone Team along with Cyber Crime Police, Hyderabad City and Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau have apprehended five members of a gang involved in opening ‘mule’ bank accounts and supplying the same to cyber fraudsters, thereby committing cyber frauds on innocent people for illegal financial gain.
The accused have been identified as Arif Saifi (40), Mohd. Abdul Naveed (30), Sohail Khan (20), Mohd. Dade Khan (21) and Sohail Khan (25). All of them are from Hyderabad, except for Arif Saifi who is from Uttarakhand.
Case details
In 2009, Arif Saifi went to Saudi and joined as a civil foreman in construction. In February 2023, in Sharjah, he came into contact with two persons named Zaid and Sandeep Singh who said that they were engaged in the cryptocurrency business and they needed bank accounts to do their business transactions. They offered to pay Rs 15,000 for each account.
Lured by this Arif Safi along with one Fathima Begum started opening bank accounts and procuring SIM cards by offering to pay Rs 10,000 for each account in Hyderabad city. These SIM cards and bank account credentials were sent to Dubai to the cyber fraudsters.
So far 82 bank account details have been identified from all over the country around 125 cyber crime fraud petitions were received, out of which nine FIR cases about Telangana State were detected.
In these 82 mule accounts, an amount of approximately Rs 5 crores was credited and the same was withdrawn by cyber fraudsters. Cyber Fraudsters in these cases cheat innocent people to perform online tasks by investing a lesser amount making them believe that initially they will send profits. After gaining the confidence of the victims, they cheated the innocent people into investing larger amounts.
The public is cautioned not to believe the fraudulent online investments which lure them in the guise of high returns by investing small amounts by sitting at home and also not open bank accounts for others and share any credentials with others.
