Crime Branch arrests two online fraudsters for posing as RBI men

Delhi Police’s Crime Branch claimed to have busted a pan-India gang which used to pose as RBI officials to cheat people with the arrest of two people.

The duo was indulged in online cheating by gathering people’s ATM/debit card details on the pretext of verification.

The accused are identified as Vicky Soni, 26 and Sunil Pandey, 25. Both are natives of Chhattisgarh.
Soni is pursuing his graduation while Pandey is an engineering graduate.

They used mobile wallets like Oxigen and PayUMoney as well as Billdesk to transfer the cheated amount into bank accounts opened at remote locations, such as Mungeli and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.

On January 11, complainant Akshay Goyal reported at Sarojini Nagar police station that he had received a telephone call from a person posing as bank official for the verification of his ATM card details. Next day, he found Rs 85,000 had been debited from his account.

During investigation, police learnt that the amount from Goyal’s account was transferred to different mobile wallets, registered on phone numbers procured on fake IDs.
On further scrutiny of the transactions of these wallets, it was found that the cheated amount was transferred to different bank accounts of ICICI Bank and SBI.

Following a clue, a joint team from Crime Branch and Sarojini Nagar police station went to Mungeli in Chhattisgarh and the two accused were nabbed.
During interrogation, both admitted to their involvement in the crime.

“They used to make random calls to people to obtain details of their ATM/debit cards by posing as RBI officials. The SIM cards used by them for making the calls were procured on fake IDs. They would obtain one-time passwords received by the victim on the pretext of verification and fraudulently transfer amounts from their bank accounts to their online fund managing apps (wallets) such as Oxigen, Billdesk, PayUmoney,” said a police officer.

The cheated amount was further transferred to different bank accounts. The accused had procured ICICI and SBI bank accounts which were opened at Mungeli and Bilaspur of Chhatisgarh.
They thought that police might not go to such remote locations for verification. To avoid identification, they had procured SIM cards on fake IDs for operating the wallets as well as to make online shopping.

Police said one of their accomplices Mohan Kumar Mandal is currently operating from Jamtara in Jharkhand. They are trying to trace him.