Cyber fraud is becoming an increasingly complex problem in the modern era, affecting everyone from ordinary citizens to prominent individuals. A single mistake can lead to the loss of a lifetime’s earnings at the hands of cybercriminals. These criminals are abandoning traditional methods of fraud and employing innovative techniques. A recent case of this nature has been brought to light by the Jharkhand CID.
The case involves a ₹30 crore fraud conducted through mule bank accounts under the guise of investment. The Cyber Police, operating under the Jharkhand CID, conducted raids in six districts of Jharkhand, including Ranchi, Lohardaga, Simdega, Palamu, Koderma, and Jamtara, leading to the arrest of seven cybercriminals.
Among the arrested individuals are Roshan Kumar and Satish Kumar, residents of Ranchi. Roshan Kumar’s bank account held ₹10.02 crore. His interstate crime links extend to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. Satish Kumar, also arrested from Ranchi, had ₹6.2 crore in his mule bank account, with links to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
Jitendra Kumar Pappu, arrested from Jamtara district, had ₹5.1 crore in his mule account, with interstate links to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi. Nurez Ansari, arrested from Lohardaga district in Jharkhand, had ₹5.05 crore in his mule account, with interstate links to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal.
Pranranjan Sinha, the fifth cybercriminal arrested from Jharkhand and a resident of Palamu district, had ₹1.06 crore in his mule bank account, with interstate links to Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan. Ganesh Chik Badaik, arrested from Simdega district, had ₹3.02 crore in his mule bank account, with links to Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. The seventh criminal, identified as Rajendra Kumar Saw from Koderma district, had ₹67 lakh in his mule bank account, with links to Delhi.
The authorities recovered 8 mobile phones, 12 SIM cards, 9 ATM cards, 4 passbooks, 9 checkbooks, an Udyam registration, and related WhatsApp chats from the arrested cybercriminals. The investigation revealed that 15,000 mule bank accounts were used by cybercriminals in Jharkhand to conceal fraudulent transactions, as per an analysis by the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Following this, the Jharkhand CID registered an FIR on July 29 against 40 Layer-1 accounts with transactions of ₹10 lakh or more under a special operation. The investigation has led to the arrest of seven cybercriminals from six districts of Jharkhand, who used mule bank accounts to commit fraud under the guise of investment, amounting to crores of rupees. The investigation also revealed that the network of these criminals extends to several other states in the country.
Mule accounts are bank accounts used by criminals to stash money obtained through cyber fraud. The fraudsters open accounts in the names of other individuals and then deposit money obtained through fraud into those accounts. It is difficult to trace the origin and frequency of transfers in these bank accounts. After the fraudulent amounts are deposited in these mule bank accounts, cybercriminals transfer the money through UPI from one account to another within minutes without going to the bank.