Delhi Police on Monday arrested a 21-year-old man from Gujarat’s Surat for allegedly facilitating fraudulent transactions for a Chinese-run cyber crime ring that lured victims into fake investment schemes, promising high returns.
Nidhin Valson, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) said on Tuesday that the arrested Alis Najmuddin Hirani, a resident of Surat, was found to be communicating directly with Chinese nationals through Telegram and facilitating illegal fund transfers.
Hirani admitted to the police that he went to Dubai in January and worked in a Chinese call center for two months. After returning to India, he began setting up fraudulent bank accounts for his Chinese contacts, who oversaw the fraudulent transactions, Valson said.
The scam came to light on September 27, when Gule Raj, a 25-year-old accountant from Bawana in Delhi, filed a complaint of being defrauded of Rs 1,42,200 through an online stock trading scheme. After watching a YouTube video in July, Raj joined a WhatsApp group called ‘C714 Upsurge Club’ where stock investment tips were sent. A member of the group then convinced the victim to download the ‘Bulk Aid Hanpro’ app for business purposes, said DCP Valson.
Raj downloaded the app and his number was added to another WhatsApp group called ‘Upsurge Club-SVIP001’ where he was instructed to invest in specific stocks through the app. The police informed that the bank account details were added to the chat box of the app to deposit the investment amount.
“After initially depositing Rs 5,000, the victim was encouraged to pay more, totaling Rs 1,42,200. However, when Raj tried to withdraw his so-called ‘Rs 15 lakh profit’, he was asked for a 20 per cent service charge. The accused eventually disabled the app and delayed the matter before it stopped responding,” the official said.
Later, the victim came to know about the group’s fraud plan and filed a complaint with the police.
The police formed a team headed by Inspector Raman Kumar Singh (SHO Cyber Crime) under the supervision of Rajiv Kumar Ambasta (Additional DCP-II, Outer North Delhi) and Joginar Singh (ACP Operations).
On the basis of technical analysis, the police found the money in a shell company called ‘Parmar Trading’, which used to deliver the stolen money to foreign organizations. Police have suspended suspicious accounts to prevent further abuse. Further technical analysis revealed that Hirani was in contact with a Chinese person through Telegram.
“Funds of Indian victims were converted into USDT (cryptocurrency) through hawala channels and sent to Chinese accounts through trust wallets,” said DCP Valson.
Police are conducting further investigations to identify and arrest other members of the gang.