Mumbai: Haryana man arrested for supplying bank accounts to scammers

The accused, Sunil Garg, was arrested in Haryana. Representation Pic

The Santacruz police arrested a 35-year-old man from Haryana, Sunil Garg, who was allegedly involved in opening bank accounts and supplying them to a cyber fraud gang. His arrest follows the discovery of a cyber fraud incident where a 49-year-old manager from the Ireland embassy was defrauded of Rs 7 lakh by a gang posing as Crime Branch officers.

Garg, who is a Std VI dropout, is reportedly skilled in share market trading and cryptocurrency, according to police officers. Some of the bank accounts were created using the names of his wife and other relatives. Garg reportedly received a 2 per cent commission on each successful cyber fraud transaction.

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Incident

A police officer said, "The incident occurred on May 17 when the victim, a manager at the Ireland embassy and resident of Santacruz, received a call from an unknown number. The caller, pretending to be a customs officer, claimed that a parcel sent in the victim's name contained suspicious items, including five passports, three credit cards, 200 grams of MD (Mephedrone), 4 kg of clothes, and a laptop. The caller alleged that the payment for the parcel was made using the victim's credit card."

"The call was then transferred to a person posing as a Crime Branch officer named Vikram Singh. The victim was instructed to connect via Skype for a video call, where he saw the impostor dressed in uniform with a background resembling a Crime Branch office. Convinced by the appearance, the victim believed the accusations. The fake officer informed the victim that his Aadhaar card had been misused to open multiple bank accounts, which were involved in illegal transactions. The officer further escalated the situation by sending a letter, purportedly from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing the victim of money laundering, drug trafficking, and identity theft," a police officer said.

On May 17, under duress, the victim transferred Rs 7 lakh to a specified bank account as demanded by the impostor. The fraudsters made another demand for R25 lakh on May 19. Realising the fraud, the embassy manager contacted the police and registered a complaint on the cyber fraud helpline 1930.

Investigation and arrest

Investigation led the team to Haryana, where Garg was apprehended. Cops first traced the account holder to which the money was transferred and found that the account was opened by the accused Garg for gaming application uses. PSI Dattatray Khade of Santacruz police station said, "We have arrested Sunil Garg from Haryana and seized multiple bank accounts connected to him. Garg was found to be approaching individuals to open bank accounts under the guise of using them for gaming applications, share trading, and cryptocurrency trading, then selling these accounts to cyber fraudsters. Garg was involved in defrauding the embassy manager of R7 lakh, with the money transferred to a Mumbai-based beneficiary account. We have also discovered Rs 2.17 crore in this account and are currently tracing the rest of the gang." The police are continuing their investigation to uncover the full extent of the fraud and locate other members of the gang.