In a major breakthrough, the Cyber Crime Branch of Jharkhand CID has busted a cross-border cyber crime racket operated by Chinese fraudsters, arresting seven Indian agents who facilitated their operations.
The accused — Kumar Deepak, Kumar Saurabh, Prabhat Kumar, Lakhan Chaurasia, Shivam Kumar, Anil Kumar, and Pradeep Kumar — were apprehended from a hotel in Ranchi, where they were coordinating cyber scams. All are residents of Bihar or Madhya Pradesh.
Police recovered 12 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, 14 ATM cards, a laptop, and a cheque book from the group.
According to investigators, the gang was involved in two major forms of cyber fraud:
Fraudulent investment apps
“Digital arrest” scams, where victims were coerced through fake legal threats
The China-based criminals sent malicious mobile applications to their Indian agents via Telegram, who then got the apps installed on users’ phones. These apps secretly transferred OTPs, bank alerts, and other sensitive data to Chinese servers, granting remote access to the victims’ bank accounts.
To facilitate illegal fund movement, the gang arranged mule bank accounts — often using fake identities — and carried out transactions worth crores of rupees on behalf of their handlers in China.
Police said the Indian agents were key intermediaries, enabling the large-scale digital theft while posing as local operators.
