Five behind cyber fraud racket held for duping man of Rs 57 lakh

A group of five individuals was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly duping a man of Rs 57 lakh on the pretext of a cryptocurrency deal, it said on Thursday.

With the arrest of the accused, the defrauded amount was also recovered in cash from their possession by the police. An SUV and two scooters which were used in the commission of the offence were also seized.

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The cops identified the accused as Praveen Kumar (40), Nitin Sharma (33), and Rakesh Kumar Dutta (46), hailing from Punjab, along with Ajay Chaudhary (32) from Noida and Anmol (23) from Panipat in Haryana.

“A complainant reportedly said that, on Sunday, he had allegedly been cheated of Rs 57 lakh by a group of men who earlier promised to deliver him a cryptocurrency,” a senior officer said.

The transaction took place at an office where the complainant had gone himself with two of the accused, Ajay and Anmol.

According to the victim, the cash was handed over to Shivam and his associates, and without transferring the amount they discussed, they fled the spot.

With this information, a case was registered at the Karol Bagh police station, the officer added.

“A special team was constituted. The team analysed CCTV footage to track the suspects. Based on leads, five accused were traced and arrested from a rented accommodation in Karol Bagh,” said the officer.

During sustained interrogation, all the arrested accused admitted to having been involved in the conspiracy. The entire amount of Rs 57 lakh was also recovered from their hideout by the cops.

Efforts are on to trace and arrest the main accused in this case, Shivam, who remains at large, said the officer.

The police said the gang operated by luring people with promises of cryptocurrency transactions at competitive rates and used various front offices to gain trust.

The complainant was made to believe he was getting a legitimate deal, only to be duped after handing over the cash.