In a major crackdown on an international cybercrime syndicate, Delhi Police arrested five individuals, including Girish Pandey and Avinash Kumar, involved in a fake stock trading scam that defrauded victims of over Rs 5 crore. The duo, with connections to a Cambodia-based crime network and Chinese handlers, had been operating for months before their arrest.
According to Special Commissioner Ravindra Yadav, the investigation was initiated after a victim from Karawal Nagar filed a complaint, revealing he had been scammed out of Rs 32 lakh through an online investment fraud. The Cyber Crime Unit of Northeast Delhi then traced the accused through the victim’s bank transactions.
The arrested individuals were identified as Girish Pandey (31), Avinash Kumar (34), Suraj Chaudhary (26), Vicky Bora (27), and Makkhan (32). They were apprehended during raids in Delhi, Aligarh, Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Basti, and Kanpur. Police seized critical evidence, including bank records, mobile phones, and digital devices, revealing a money trail worth over Rs 5 crore.
The accused had orchestrated a fake stock trading scheme, luring victims through WhatsApp and other chat platforms. They operated by adding potential targets to fake advisory groups and convinced them to invest in Indian and US stocks via a fake platform. Victims were initially shown profits but were later coerced to invest more when they demanded their money back. Their accounts were frozen, citing ‘penalties’.
Police found that the network had international links, with Chinese operators and Cambodian associates facilitating the transactions. The scam involved the use of offline RTGS, cryptocurrency (USDT), and fake cooperative banks. One of the arrested, Chaudhary, provided a bank account to Vicky Bora, who was a key figure coordinating with a Chinese operator named ‘Nio’. Pandey played a pivotal role in money laundering through his fake company, Travelese Bird Technology Pvt Ltd.
Police also revealed that Makkhan acted as an intermediary between shell account holders in India and the Cambodia-based operators, further complicating the fraud. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities working to track down more members of the cybercrime network.
