Surat: A racket run by cybercriminals was busted in the Mota Varachha area, bringing to light a fraud worth Rs 77 crore. Police arrested three individuals involved in the racket during a raid, while four others are wanted in connection with the case. The accused were allegedly operating the scam from Dubai, frequently travelling back and forth to India.
The gang had been operating from Swadhyay Complex for a year, said police, who had raided a shop in the building after being tipped off about the racket.
The gang's modus operandi involved obtaining bank account details from individuals after paying them a fee. These accounts were then used to deposit and transfer money obtained through cyberfraud and online gaming activities.
Cybercrime police arrested Ajay Italiya, Jalpesh Nadiyadara and Vishal Thummar. Italiya was working directly for the main accused, Milan Vaghela, who is believed to be operating the racket from Dubai. Italiya was responsible for activating bank accounts and managing Vaghela's operations from Dubai whenever the latter visited India. Italiya had travelled to Dubai five times so far. The other two accused, Nadiyadara and Thummar, were involved in retrieving bank accounts and their kits.
Police have issued warrants for the arrest of Vaghela, Ketan Vekariya, Dashrath and Jagdish, who are believed to be currently residing in Dubai.
In total, police seized 28 mobile phones, 86 debit cards, 180 passbooks from different banks, 30 cheque books, 258 sim cards, laptops and computers during the raid. Additionally, they seized details of 947 bank accounts during the raids. The seized items and evidence suggest that the gang was involved in large-scale cyberfraud and online cheating activities. The total amount of money laundered through 261 Canara Bank accounts is estimated to be Rs 77 crore, said police.