CH NEWS
BENGALURU
Police have arrested three men accused of supplying mule accounts and routing cyber-fraud proceeds through digital platforms.
The accused have been identified as Amit Mishra of Jharkhand and Bengaluru residents Tausif Ahmed and Parashuram Sadanand Kannannavar alias Pavan Kumar.
The arrests followed a complaint filed by a Bengaluru resident on April 29, who alleged that he was lured into an investment scheme through a WhatsApp link. He was subsequently added to a group called “EL Investment Strategies Discussion”, where messages promoting trading investments were posted daily.
The complainant was allegedly asked to open a demat account and initially invested ₹50,000. The accused allegedly provided bank account details and induced him to invest ₹93.58 lakh in instalments. However, neither returns nor the invested amount were provided, police said.
A case was registered under relevant provisions of the IT Act and Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said the accused were arrested at a hotel in Kasavanahalli based on technical information. Investigation allegedly revealed that they procured current, corporate and trust bank accounts, net-banking credentials and linked SIM cards from individuals by promising commissions.
According to police, account holders were accommodated in hotels, where an application called ZNPAY and SMS-forwarding malicious files were installed. Banking OTPs and SMS messages were allegedly forwarded to cyber fraudsters, enabling remote operation of accounts and transfer of fraud proceeds.
Police seized six mobile phones and found that the accused had allegedly procured more than 507 mule bank accounts. They also allegedly used over 51 accounts to transfer cyber-fraud money.
Police said some accounts were linked to cyber-fraud cases registered in Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other States.
“The investigation revealed that the accused exchanged bank account details required for transferring cyber-fraud money with intermediaries through WhatsApp and Telegram.” Bengaluru Police
