Three men have been arrested for allegedly duping more than 1,000 people across India to the tune of over ₹1.5 crore on the pretext of installing mobile phone towers of a reputed mobile company, the police said on Wednesday.

The accused have been identified as Sanjay Kumar (28), Santosh Kumar (29) and Arjun Prasad (26), the police said.

They said that the accused cheated victims through a fake website. Sanjay also invested a portion of the money that they earned after duping people, and started his own cloud telephony company — Sanjay Enterprises — they said.

At least 200 persons admitted that they were duped by the accused after the police approached them.

Lokendra Kumar, one of the victims and a resident of Dabri, in his complaint, said that he had come across a website — www.reliancejiotower.net — on the internet, which talked about installing a mobile tower, Anto Alphonse, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) said.

Mr. Kumar called up on the mobile number given on the website and then filled a form for tower installation. He said he then received an e-mail containing the “approval letter for tower installation”, the police said.

The accused then allegedly demanded ₹14,413 in the name of security money from Mr. Kumar, who deposited the amount in an Andhra Bank account, details of which was provided by the accused, the DCP also said.

After Mr. Kumar deposited the amount, he received a message from his bank that said that the money was transferred to the bank account of Arjun Prasad. Mr. Kumar became suspicious and asked the accused to give his money back, but was turned down.

During investigation, the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police obtained the registrant’s details, IP logs and other details of said website and examined them.

The statement of the said bank account of the accused brought forth a record of frequent deposits and withdrawals of money, the police said, adding that the account was opened on a fake address.

Based on a tip-off, police officers raided different areas in Manesar and Faridabad, after which the three accused were arrested, Mr. Alphonse said.

During interrogation, Sanjay, the mastermind of the racket, said that he wanted to start his own company for which he required ₹20 lakh. He said he had created the fake website while also preparing the list of queries which can be asked by customers. Thereafter, he hired a local artist and recorded the answers in his voice. Sanjay, who holds a IT diploma degree, had been working in a software company between 2011 and 2014. He also worked in another reputed Indian technology service and consulting company from 2015 to 2017, he said.

Seized items

Five mobile phones, nine SIM cards and 12 ATM cards of different banks were used in the commission of the crime. Account-opening kits and cheque books were also seized, the police added.