Many complainants approached police or filed complaints at National Cybercrime Reporting Portal after losing thousands or lakhs from their accounts.The Delhi Police’s Cyber Crime Unit has arrested 65 persons for allegedly cheating hundreds of people under the pretense of paying their electricity bills. The accused were held from 22 cities and 100 bank accounts linked to them were ‘frozen’. Sources said they cheated people to the tune of over Rs 1 crore.
Police said the syndicate has different modules running from Jamtara in Jharkhand, parts of West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and other cities. The Jamtara module, famous for cheating people through various techniques, has of late resorted to using the pretext of unpaid electricity bills. Delhi Police said over 1,000 complaints have been received across India.
Cyber Crime officials said many modules work in tandem – with scamsters posing as logistic providers, telecallers, bank officials, SIM card sellers and e-mitra persons. The Cyber Crime Unit is also writing to the Department of Telecommunications since it has noticed that the accused use duplicate SIM cards without the knowledge of companies concerned to steal personal details.
“Each module has been assigned a specific task by the Jamtara gang, which oversees the operations. First, people looking for SIM cards are scammed and their details are sent to the gang. Their personal details are used to create bank accounts to receive the cheated money. The gang then sends bulk messages to people, telling them about pending electricity bills,” said an officer. The message most people get reads: “Dear Consumer, your electricity will be discontinued tonight because your previous month’s bill was not updated. Please click on the following link to pay the bill.” When they click on the link, they are either directed to a telecaller or to a website where their details are taken to make the payment. The telecallers often pose as BSES officials and ask for bank account details.
KPS Malhotra, DCP (Cyber Crime Unit), said, “The telecallers also install remote access software. Once the details are shared, the fraudster transfers the amount from the victim’s account to the fake accounts using the remote access software.”
Many complainants approached police or filed complaints at National Cybercrime Reporting Portal after losing thousands or lakhs from their accounts. A team under DCP Malhotra and four ACPs were asked to look into the money trail. They found that most of the phones used for the scam were switched off. They were again switched on at other locations, with the accused frequently changing hideouts. Police said they posed as decoy customers in Kolkata and got fake SIM cards made to catch the accused. In 10 days, raids were held in 22 cities in MP, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujrat and Bihar, and 65 persons were arrested.
The first module is the SIM card vendors – these are retailers who give out SIM cards to send bulk messages to victims. “They had also bypassed security features of telecom companies. Duplicate SIM cards were being issued without a person’s knowledge,” said an officer. The second module is the account providers and holders. These people give their bank accounts to the accused to earn quick money. The accounts are used to transfer cheated money.
The third module, mainly based in Rajasthan, are the e-mitras. Though these people were initially working to help locals with paying credit card and electricity bills, they later came in contact with Jamtara gangs and started misusing their customers’ credit card details to divert the cheated money. The fourth module, the tele callers, are based in different cities.