The Vijayapura Cyber Economic and Narcotics (CEN) Crime Police have successfully investigated five major online fraud cases, recovering a total of Rs 2.47 crore from the accused and returning the funds to the victims. The investigations were supervised by Superintendent of Police Laxman B Nimbargi, along with Additional SPs Shankar Marihal and Ramanagouda Hatti.
SP Laxman B Nimbargi stated that thorough investigations were conducted into the financial frauds, which involved various scams including digital arrests, crypto trading, part-time job offers, stock market investments, and fake railway job appointments. Following the legal proceedings, the Court directed the police to return the recovered amounts to the victims.
The operations were carried out by a team led by DySP Sunil Kamble and Inspector Ramesh Awaji. One of the key cases involved a Vijayapura contractor who was deceived into investing in the international CAPEX.COM trading app, with promises of 30 percent monthly returns from trading in dollars, gold, crude oil, and cryptocurrencies. The fraudsters managed to extract Rs 1.88 crore from him, but the police intervened, identifying two suspects and recovering Rs 1.26 crore.
In another case, a resident of Talikoti was trapped into investing Rs 87 lakh through the Capitalix trading app, which promised high returns. The police arrested eight suspects and recovered Rs 68.25 lakh. Efforts are ongoing to retrieve the remaining amount.
Another case involved fraudsters targeting job seekers with false promises of railway department positions. Thirteen victims were deceived into paying Rs 1.61 crore, believing they had secured Group C and D jobs. The accused even staged fake training sessions in Jharkhand to make the scam appear legitimate.
The mastermind of the scam, Sikandar Mohammad Basargi from Babalashewar, was arrested, with Rs 45 lakh recovered. Additionally, three more suspects from Delhi and Jharkhand are under investigation for their involvement in the fraud. In another incident, a Vijayapura-based businessman was misled into investing Rs 2 crore in The Octa Trading App, with promises of a daily profit of 4 percent. The police identified the suspects, froze their bank accounts, and recovered a portion of the stolen funds. So far, Rs 38 lakh has been refunded, with an additional Rs 32 lakh retrieved.
