Police Uncover Massive Cybercrime Scheme in Bengaluru with Over ₹854 Crore Discovered in 84 Bank Accounts

Law enforcement authorities have achieved a significant milestone by dismantling a prominent cybercrime network in Bengaluru. As a result of this operation, transactions amounting to ₹854 crores have been exposed, spanning across 84 bank accounts. Furthermore, this successful endeavor has resulted in the registration of 5,013 cases throughout the country.

The Bengaluru-based Cyber Crime Branch (CCB) has played a key role in nabbing the members of this criminal syndicate. A total of 17 cases have been registered in the city and the gang responsible for these illegal activities has been arrested by the CCB cyber crime police.

Specifically, the accused were handling accounts from Bengaluru While living abroad.

Key members of the Bengaluru-based gang, including Navara Manoj alias Jock, Phanindra, Vasanth, Srinivasa, Chakradar alias Chakri and Somashekhar alias Uncle, collaborated with partners based abroad.

Ainathi Asami, who was responsible for managing the bank accounts of people living in Bangalore’s Vidyaranyapur and Yelahanka areas, is among those arrested.

The modus operandi of this sophisticated cyber crime operation involves sending job offer messages to individuals across India through platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.

Potential victims were lured into what they believed to be Google-related part-time jobs. They were asked to review several stores and provide Google reviews with the promise of payment.

When individuals joined the Telegram group, the defendants encouraged them to invest in cryptocurrency-related projects. They were persuaded to invest ₹1000 to ₹10,000. The promise was that after investing, they would earn a daily return of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000.

Gradually, as trust was built and more individuals were invested, the stakes increased, and victims of lakhs and even millions of rupees were poured. These funds were then deposited in various bank accounts in Bengaluru.

Later, the money was transferred to foreign bank accounts, and the cybercriminal group managing the bank accounts received cryptocurrency in return. The foreign group would then invest these funds in several foreign companies.

As part of the operation, law enforcement officials seized computers, cell phones, laptops, bank account information, credit cards, debit cards, swipe devices, SIM cards, printers and checkbooks.

In addition, the CCB police have frozen ₹5 crore in the bank accounts of the accused.