Police have arrested five individuals in connection with a multi-state cyber fraud operation targeting bank customers. The accused have been identified as Suraj Chauhan and Sahil Khan from Uttar Pradesh, Pintu Kumar Mandal and Biku Shah from Bihar, and Basant Kumar Mandal from Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
SP (City) Ritvik Srivastava stated that the accused confessed to their involvement in cybercrime activities across several states. The gang reportedly arranged dummy bank accounts through associates and sent fraudulent APK files disguised as DTO e-challan notices, SBI Reward messages, and YONO SBI links to unsuspecting bank customers.
Once victims clicked the links, the gang gained access to SMS alerts and OTPs by enabling call forwarding, allowing them to withdraw money from the accounts.
During searches, authorities seized:
10 mobile phones
38 ATM cards and SIM cards issued in fake names
16 SIM cards used for bank account activation
Fingerprint cloning equipment
A Paytm POS machine
Various other electronic items
A case has been registered at Bank More Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act. Police added that further investigation is underway, with more arrests likely as they trace the financial trail and identify other members of the cybercrime network.
