The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday carried out searches on the premises of suspects in connection with a money laundering case registered to probe the gangs of cyber criminals operating from Jamtara in Jharkhand. These gangs were alleged to have cheated thousands of people across the country.
The searches were conducted against accused Pradeep Kumar Mondal, Pintu Mondal, Vishu and Mukesh.
Based on the police cases, the ED had registered the case involving Pradeep, Santosh Yadav, Jugal Mondal and their accomplices. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency was empowered to attach the proceeds of alleged crime.
Their modus operandi was known as “vishing” or voice “phishing”. Posing as bank representatives, they called up unsuspecting account holders and extract their personal details from them on various pretexts. The information was used to get access to the accounts for illegal online transfer of money.
The money was transferred from bank accounts to e-wallets opened on mobile phones numbers procured on fake or fraudulently arranged identification papers.