The Commissionerate Police has arrested five individuals, including a mastermind with an MTech degree, for allegedly duping a government officer of over Rs36 lakh in Bhubaneswar.
On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Sanjib Panda addressed the media regarding the arrests. The victim, an Odisha government officer based in Bhubaneswar, filed a complaint with the Cyber Police on May 14. He reported receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be an employee of FedEx, who said his Aadhaar card had been used to send a package to Taiwan. The caller then mentioned that a Crime Branch officer from Mumbai would contact him.
Shortly after, the officer received another call from Machhumari Chintibabu, who claimed to be a Crime Branch officer. Chintibabu threatened the officer with criminal charges over the alleged misuse of his Aadhaar card and demanded money to resolve the issue.
Fearful of arrest and social repercussions, the officer transferred Rs36,34,400 to the account of the impersonated Crime Branch officer. Realizing he had been scammed, he promptly filed a complaint.
Following an investigation, police arrested Denzo, alias Boss, from Tripura. During questioning, he revealed information about his accomplices, leading to the arrest of Machhumari from Andhra Pradesh, who holds an MTech degree. Other members of the group, including Seikh Tejuddin from Andhra Pradesh, James from Assam, and Jiten Kaipeng from Tripura, were also apprehended.
Authorities have frozen Rs12 lakh and 1,700 crypto dollars in the suspects’ bank accounts. Additionally, they seized two laptops, 56 ATM cards, 20 mobile phones, 30 SIM cards, and various passbooks and cheque books from the group.
Commissioner Panda stated, “The five cyber fraudsters operated from Bengaluru and frequently traveled to Bhubaneswar to target victims. They would call identified individuals and threaten them to extract money if they fell into their trap.”