Maharashtra man arrested for Rs 48 lakh cyber fraud

A 29-year-old man was tracked down and held in Maharashtra for allegedly defrauding multiple investors of over Rs 48 lakh in Outer North Delhi, police said Tuesday.

The accused, Jitendra Sharma, who was apprehended from Vangaon in Maharashtra’s Palghar, posed as a representative of a financial services company and lured his victims with a fake trading application.

“Sharma operated as the managing director of a private company and provided his company’s bank accounts for the fraudulent transactions in exchange for commission," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Nidhin Valsan said, adding that his bank accounts were linked to 46 complaints registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

A case was registered on March 17 following a complaint lodged by Vinay Singhal. During the probe, three similar complaints emerged, revealing how the victims were duped into transferring funds via a fake trading application mimicking the company's interface.

“The accused used shell companies and purchased dormant bank accounts to move money quickly before it could be traced. He had earlier been arrested in a similar cyber fraud case in Faridabad and was out on bail,” the officer said.

The complainant was directed to download a bespoke trading app that falsely promised high returns. Convinced of its legitimacy, he transferred significant sums to various bank accounts provided by the fraudster.

Sharma was apprehended in a raid carried out on May 16. In the operation, the police seized four mobile phones, a laptop, a watch, Rs 80,000 in cash, two debit cards, two pen drives with transaction data, a company stamp, cheque books, and a bank passbook.

“The digital footprint and KYC document analysis were key in tracing the network," Valsan said.

He further said that efforts were underway to identify other members of the racket and recover the defrauded money.