New Delhi, April 9 The Delhi Police has arrested six people for their alleged involvement in a transnational cyber fraud syndicate that used fake loan applications and siphoned money through mule bank accounts, an official said on Thursday.
The arrests were made after investigators traced a suspicious account in Kapashera being used to route defrauded funds, he said.
During the investigation, police identified the account holder, Nehal Babu, 23, who had allegedly rented out his UPI-linked QR code to other members of the syndicate in exchange for money.
Based on his interrogation and technical surveillance, five more accused – Tabrej Alam, 21, Ritesh Kumar, 20, Vishal Kumar, 22, Karan Kumar, 24, and Shami Mohd, 27 – were apprehended from the Delhi-NCR region, he said.
The police said six mobile phones containing incriminating data, including chats and transaction details, were recovered. Analysis of the devices revealed links with foreign handlers operating through virtual numbers from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
"The syndicate lured victims through fake loan apps, gaining access to their mobile data. Victims were then harassed and threatened using morphed images, forcing them to repay inflated amounts."
"The defrauded money was routed through mule accounts using UPI IDs and later withdrawn in cash before being converted into cryptocurrency, including USDT, to conceal the money trail," the officer said.
At least seven complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) have been linked to the case so far, while details of several other accounts are being analysed to identify more victims, he said.