Cyber extortion racket busted, 3 fake ATS officers held

The arrests were made by a joint team of the Cyber Crime Police Station and the Intelligence Wing from the Pari Chowk area of Greater Noida after a 68-year-old retired railway employee from Fatehpur was tricked of Rs 41.10 lakh over 13 days, holding him under digital arrest.

The matter came to light after the victim, Motilal, from the Hussainganj neighborhood of Fatehpur, claimed to have received a call on November 4 from a number that identified the caller as "ATS Chief Basant Lal."  The caller threatened to have him arrested unless he complied with a purported "verification process" and accused him of money laundering.  Terrified, the elderly man moved Rs 41,10,000 into different accounts between Nov 4 and 17.  In accordance with sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act as well as certain BNS provisions, police filed a formal complaint.

Following surveillance, police detained Sarthak Grover (29) of Delhi's Mansarovar Garden, Rahul Sharma (31) of Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad, and Santosh Kumar (44) of Etawah, currently living in Khoda Colony.
 Fatehpur SP  According to Anoop Singh, the three served as vital conduits for South-East Asian hackers.  "Their role included procuring SIM cards using fake identities, providing OTPs and communication support to overseas handlers, arranging bank accounts in the names of financially vulnerable individuals, and ensuring rapid laundering of funds through ATM withdrawals, PoS devices, gold purchases and conversion into USDT cryptocurrency,

 Singh stated. Singh said during the raid, the police recovered an immense cache of digital and financial equipment, including 34 Android smartphones with 39 active SIM cards, five keypad phones, three laptops, two tablets, seven SSDs, six WiFi routers, two swipe machines, and a mini-printer.

Officers also found 83 debit and credit cards, 36 chequebooks, several PAN and Aadhaar documents (some thought to be fraudulent), two passports, a UAE residency card, tax documents of the firm "Hobby King," and a Dubai locker key.  The handset and SIM used to threaten the Fatehpur victim were also found.
 According to Singh, the network was based on "rented bank accounts," which the accused acquired by paying the account holders Rs 2,000 a month and offering Rs 500–1,000 per account.  These accounts were opened in private banks and financial institutions.

Once the funds were placed by the victims, the accused executed fast, layered withdrawals to prevent tracking and quickly funnelled the money back to their foreign handlers.  According to the officer, Grover's passport records numerous international travels, and digital evidence suggests regular coordination with handlers running cybercrime hubs overseas.
 NCRP data shows that the syndicate has at least 31 complaints registered against it from across Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, Punjab, and Tripura, underscoring its national footprint.

Follow cyberdeepakyadav.com on

 Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube