EOW moves UP, Rajasthan cops for help to catch cyber crooks

BHUBANESWAR: The economic offences wing (EOW) is in touch with the Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh police to arrest some cyber crooks, who allegedly facilitated opening of some mule accounts in the names of unsuspecting tribals in Nabarangpur district to park crores of ill-gotten money.
The cyber scammers connived with some locals of Nabarangpur to open the mule accounts with the India post payment bank (IPPB). It is suspected that not less than 2,000 accounts were opened in the IPPB in the names of gullible tribals to make illegal transactions without their knowledge.
We have identified the local associates of the gang. They are under our radar and can be arrested anytime. But we are trying to arrest the main culprits, who stay outside the state. We suspect they are from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Efforts are on to arrest them, an EOW official said.
The probe agency said the gang also targeted illiterate people in some other districts and opened mule accounts in their names in some banks. The innocent account holders were told that they would receive money under different schemes of the government in their accounts.
EOW said the Aadhaar cards, address proofs and other details required for opening the accounts were genuine, but the phone numbers linked with those accounts did not belong to the real account holders.
The phone numbers belonged to the scamsters, who used the OTPs linked to those accounts to transfer funds.
The scamsters opened these accounts, termed mule accounts, to park and withdraw money they stole from people through cyber frauds. The account holders had no clues about the illegal operations nor received any financial benefits.
“We have blocked those mule accounts and frozen the money. Most of the cash withdrawals were made outside the state. It will take time to catch hold of them. So far, we have not come across the suspected connivance of any postal staff in the fraud,” the EOW official added.