Cyber Fraud: Bank Accounts Opened in Names of 136 People, Six Arrested

Surat: The Cyber Crime Police have arrested six people involved in a massive cyber fraud racket that operated from Dubai. The accused were arrested on Friday and have been remanded to three days' police custody.

According to the police, the accused, including Raju Raiyani, Vijay Od, Mahesh Bhadiyadara, Chandresh Kakadiya, Hardik Desai, and T Thirugnanam, were part of a gang that opened bank accounts in the names of innocent people and used them for fraudulent transactions.

The police investigation revealed that the gang would obtain SIM cards and bank account kits from Dubai and use them to open savings and current accounts in various banks. They would then use these accounts to commit financial fraud, including investment scams and online gaming fraud.

The accused would earn a commission of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1.50 lakh per account, depending on the type of account and the amount of transactions. The police have seized a large number of SIM cards, bank account kits, and debit cards from the accused.

The masterminds behind the racket, including Vijay Parmar, Mukesh Parmar, Mayank Sojitra, Arun, Ajay Kakadiya, Tushar, Raju, Niles Patel, Mitesh Patel, Ketan Vaigela, and Milan Darji, are still absconding. The police have launched a manhunt to arrest them.

During the initial interrogation, the accused revealed that they had opened fake bank accounts in the names of 136 people from Surat and surrounding areas. The bank account kits and SIM cards were sent to Dubai, where the fraudsters would use them to commit fraud.

Tamil Nadu resident T Thirugnanam, who was arrested from a hotel in the Station area, was involved in collecting bank account kits and SIM cards. He was arrested after Vijay Od revealed his involvement during interrogation.

The Cyber Crime Police have launched a separate investigation to trace the remaining accused and bring them to justice.