Member of gang that duped people online arrested

VADODARA: A 23-year-old man was arrested over his alleged involvement in cyber fraud cases.
The cybercrime sleuths arrested Dhruv Panchal, a resident of Ahmedabad, after investigation into a case revealed his name. He is suspected to be a member of a gang that duped people online.
“We got a complaint where a woman had received WhatsApp messages about a lucrative scheme. The conmen offered Rs 8,000 to the woman to complete some tasks and demanded money under various pretexts,” said B N Patel, police inspector, Vadodara cybercrime. The complainant later realized that she was being cheated and approached the police.
“During investigation, we tracked down the bank account in which the woman transferred the money. The account was registered in the name of a man identified as Hitesh Darji from Ahmedabad,” Patel told TOI. When the cops questioned Darji, he said that the account was in his name but he didn’t operate it.
Darji revealed that he was in need of money and Panchal, who is his friend, promised to help him. Panchal took identity documents to open the account and later gave Darji Rs 20,000. The police said that Panchal opened a bank account in Darji’s name that used it for depositing the money siphoned from his targets.
“The account, though, was operated by a person named Parth who too stays in Ahmedabad. We have begun a search for him as he seems to be involved with the gang that defrauds people by offering shady schemes,” the police added.
Investigating officials said that the gang may be operating from some foreign country and it would be offering money to their Indian counterparts to open and operate the bank accounts that are used to divert the siphoned money.