Delhi Police have busted an alleged cyber-fraud network built on mule bank accounts, arresting six people, including bank staff, after investigators identified 37 suspected mule accounts that received around ₹7.36 crore (yaani about ₹736 lakh) linked to 99 cyber-fraud complaints registered across India.
Source: The420
The investigation centred on two branches of a private bank in Delhi — 17 suspected mule accounts at the Saraswati Vihar branch and 20 at the Tri Nagar branch. Police said the case began after scrutiny of mule-account data flagged suspicious activity at Tri Nagar: a preliminary check allegedly found that the person whose identity was used for one account had never visited the branch or applied to open an account, and addresses linked to two other accounts could not be verified. An FIR was registered on June 17 and the probe widened from there.
Police allege the network was operated by Mayank Kapoor, also known as Rinku, who allegedly approached daily-wage labourers on the pretext of helping them obtain loans and collected their Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, photographs and other KYC documents, with SIM cards also allegedly arranged in their names. Those documents were then allegedly used to open bank accounts without the individuals properly participating in the process, police said.
Source: Particle News
According to police, Kapoor allegedly came into contact with Shobhit Aggarwal, a manager at the Saraswati Vihar branch, who allegedly helped facilitate account openings without the supposed customers being physically present, using forged signatures. Aggarwal later allegedly introduced Kapoor to Sushant Kumar, manager of the Tri Nagar branch. Sales team members allegedly processed several applications before branch-level approval. Police arrested Aggarwal and four sales team members on October 18 after gathering evidence. All of these are police allegations and have not been proved in court.
During searches, investigators recovered a laptop, seven mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, seven cheque books and seven debit cards, besides ₹60,000 in cash and around 150 grams of gold. Police also found 63 Aadhaar cards, 60 PAN cards and 55 passport-size photographs belonging to different people, which investigators suspect were meant for opening more accounts. Police suspect part of the fraud proceeds was converted into cryptocurrency, including the stablecoin USDT.
Separately, police arrested two men on October 23 in an e-FIR case that began on October 5 after a victim lost ₹15.83 lakh; police say one of them allegedly sold bank documents and a linked SIM to a relative who then supplied accounts to fraudsters. The investigation is continuing to identify other officials, operators and handlers who may have used the accounts, police said.