Fraudsters disguised as police suspected of scam through gaming accounts in India
Investigators are mapping transactions across Guwahati, Ranchi and hundreds of digital accounts to identify the final recipients of the funds.
India.- Police in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, say they have traced ₹95.65 lakh (US$100,000) allegedly stolen in a scam operation through 903 online gaming accounts. The case was registered at the Lucknow Cyber Crime Police Station on September 25.
Suspects allegedly posed as officials from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to convince an individual that they were linked to a money-laundering investigation and that the person faced arrest. According to ADCP (Crime) Kiran Yadav, the suspects contacted the victim through WhatsApp calls and video conferences.
The victim subsequently transferred money to accounts controlled by the network. Investigators examining the transaction trail found that the money initially passed through two bank accounts in Guwahati and Ranchi. It was then distributed across 903 online gaming accounts, they say.
Police said the movement of funds through a large number of accounts has complicated efforts to identify the people who ultimately received the money. However, authorities have so far secured about ₹44 lakh by placing liens on suspected accounts. They continue to examine bank records, gaming wallets and related transactions and to investigate whether holders of the accounts involved in the transactions knowingly participated in the fraud or had their accounts used as intermediaries.
