Fake bank account gang busted in Delhi; four arrested

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The Delhi Police have busted a gang of online frauds arresting four of its members who allegedly used to open bank accounts on forged identities and sell them to other criminals to receive money in, an officer said here on Saturday. The mastermind of the gang has been identified a 41-year-old Darvesh Kumar, a resident of Sultanpuri, who used to sell these fake accounts for a sum to people involved in phishing.

Priyanka Sarkar, 24, a resident of Rohini, Deepak, 29, a resident of Mangolpuri, and Ajit Singh, 35, a resident of Faridabad in Haryana were the other three arrested, they said. A juvenile too has been apprehended in the matter. The matter was taken up for investigation after a woman in January filed a complaint saying she lost Rs 61,800 from her bank account in a phishing scam, police said. According to police, the woman, searching for doctors for appointment, had come across a mobile number on internet.

When she contacted the number, she was asked to pay Rs 5 by clicking on a link to get the appointment with doctor, a senior police officer said, adding, as soon as she did that she got a message saying Rs 61,800 had been deducted from her account. During investigation, it was revealed that the money was withdrawn from Faridabad. The amount was found to be credited into the account belonging to one Sunder Kumar, a resident of Budh Vihar, Phase' I.

When the account was verified, it turned out to be fake, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Sanjay Kumar Sain said. On June 28, police apprehended a juvenile was apprehended, who led to the arrest of the four others, he said. According to police, Darvesh was involved in opening bank accounts in several banks on bought identities. He had sold one kit to Deepak for Rs 18,000 to 20,000, and another to Ajit Singh for Rs 25,000.

Singh was in contact with several other frauds who were in need of bank accounts to receive money in to avoid a money trail, they said. Police said Darvesh used to charge Rs 30,000 for each bank kit and also charged a 10 per cent commission for receiving money in any such fake account on other criminals' behalf. After deducting his commission, he used to deposit the money in bank accounts provided by the frauds, police said.

The accused said they were involved in the crime for about three years and fingered Darvesh as the master mind, the DCP said. Darvesh used to get needy people to sell their identity papers for Rs 10,000 to 15,000. Once he would get these documents, he would change the address on them, and apply for a new Aadhaar and PAN with the help of the juvenile and Priyanka, police said. They used to get new Aadhaar card every three to four days, they said. Priyanka used to visit banks with the poor fellows for opening of fake accounts in different banks, police added.

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