Bengaluru: The Central Division Cyber Crime Police have arrested two persons for allegedly cheating members of the public by promising high returns on stock market investments through a fake call centre operating in the city.
The arrested accused have been identified as Yogesh Amarram Kumawat from Gujarat and Imran from Delhi. Police said they have seized 31 mobile phones, 13 laptops, 16 SIM cards and documents containing names and phone numbers of victims from their possession.
According to officials, the accused had set up a firm named M/S Multiwave Business Solutions in Jayanagar 9th Block and were operating it as a fraudulent call centre. Around 15 individuals from other states were hired as customer care executives.
They would call unsuspecting members of the public and lure them with promises of lucrative profits through stock market investments. Victims who agreed to invest were provided with bank account details and asked to transfer money online.
Once the money was credited, the accused would switch off their mobile phones and become unreachable, police said. The fraud came to light after one of the victims approached the Central Division Cyber Crime Police Station and lodged a complaint.
Based on the location of the mobile number used for the fraud, police traced the operation to the Jayanagar office and conducted a raid. During the inspection, the alleged scam network was exposed.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused sourced data of individuals interested in stock market investments through online platforms, including Google searches. They allegedly procured bank accounts from persons in other states and obtained SIM cards in the names of third parties.
These accounts and numbers were then used to carry out the fraud. Police said the cheated money was transferred to multiple mule or fake bank accounts before being withdrawn through ATMs by associates of the accused and shared among themselves.
In a related recent case, a 19-year-old engineering student from a reputed city college was found to have unwittingly allowed cybercriminals to use his bank account, through which nearly Rs 7 crore of illegal funds were routed. A 23-year-old accused has been arrested in that case and further investigation is underway.
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