Three cyber fraudsters nabbed from Surat for duping retd CMO of ₹1.26 cr

In a major breakthrough, Cyber Police Station cops busted a gang of cyber fraudsters involved in duping a retired chief medical officer of ₹1.26 crore on the pretext of online share trading. Police on Saturday arrested three persons, including a woman, who were working on behest of gang’s kingpin based in Dubai and Taiwan. Police have got ₹22 lakh in the bank account of the accused frozen.

DCP Abhishek Bharti said an FIR was registered at Cyber Police Station on complaint of retired CMO Alok Verma. The fraudsters forwarded a link on Verma’s telegram account and lured him of hefty returns on investment in share trading. After giving some profits in the initial stage, Verma was asked to invest a heavy amount in his online share trading account. However, his account was closed when the retired CMO made an investment of ₹1.26 crore.

Acting on the FIR, cyber cops arrested three members of the gang from their hideout in Surat. They were identified as Shabina Mohammad, 28, her husband Patel Mohammad,, 28 and her brother Syed Amiruddin, 31.

Questioning from them revealed that the kingpin of the gang is based in Dubai and Taiwan. The arrested persons used to work as agents who used to arrange for bank accounts in which cash of victims was transferred. The cash was withdrawn and was converted to crypto currency which was transferred to wallet address of the gang’s kingpin through an App.

The gang members used to trap persons interested in online share trading and sent them links through telegram, WhatsApp and other social media platform.

The gang member Shabina is a class five dropout but is fluent in English and many foreign languages. Shabina frequently used to travel to South Africa, Dubai and Taiwan with her husband and brother. Her husband Patel Mohammad was earlier caught with smuggled gold at Ahmedabad Airport.