In a significant breakthrough, Delhi Police arrested three men involved in an elaborate online fraud scam that defrauded a complainant of Rs31.55 lakh. The fraudsters had tricked the victim by posing as police officers from Aaram Bagh, Lucknow, and claiming that a mobile SIM card issued in his name was linked to several serious crimes, including money laundering and human trafficking.
On July 13, the complainant received a call stating that his SIM card had been used in 17 FIRs and was being investigated by police. The caller threatened the victim with legal action, extorting a large sum of money by creating a sense of urgency and fear.
During the investigation, police traced the money to several bank accounts opened in different cities under false identities. The accounts showed multi-crore transactions, with the defrauded money quickly being transferred to other accounts. This led investigators to arrest the primary accused, Dev Bhati, on July 26.
Two more individuals, Robin and Vishnu, were arrested on July 28 for facilitating the operation by providing bank account details. Further investigation revealed that within just two days, Rs1.25 crore had been credited to Bhati’s account.
On July 31, Aakash Kumar Jain, a key player in the scam, was arrested from Mahipalpur, Delhi. Jain was allegedly the mastermind behind the operation, managing the fraudulent accounts and coordinating with a network of fraudsters based in China via social media applications.
The police recovered seven mobile phones and a laptop used in the crime. Additionally, over 150 bank accounts were discovered to have been used to facilitate the scam. Police are continuing their investigation to uncover more details.