MUMBAI: An MBA grad and an engineer are among five arrested by the Mumbai cyber police for duping an affluent individual of Rs 9.8 lakh on the pretext of helping him get a premium credit card service and a lifetime membership of a club in city.
Police suspect the accused are involved in at least 32 offences in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The gang targeted wealthy individuals and are suspected to have used 1,600 Sim cards, including foreign Sim cards, for frauds.DCP (Cyber) Balsingh Rajput said the gang would put together a list of high net worth individuals who recently purchased a luxury car.
One of them would then contact the target and explain that along with the car, he/she had a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to obtain a premium credit card that also came with a lifetime membership of a club.
Once the target showed his willingness, copies of his documents would be taken over WhatsApp.
Another gang member would approach the target with an Android phone and explain that certain formalities can only be carried out on iPhones.
The target would then be asked to insert his Sim card into the Android phone and fill up forms with bank details.Certain pre-loaded apps on the Android phone would give remote access to the other accused who would use the victim's bank details and OTP to make online purchases of gold and electronic gadgets.
The products are later sold off.
Three accused - MCA grad Nandkumar Chandrashekhar, 42, hotel management grad John Raj, 35, and MBA grad Pavathrani Parthsarthy, 33, - were held from Chennai airport with Rs 3.8 lakh in cash and 122 Singaporean dollars.
The mastermind, mechanical engineer Ayyapan Murugesan, 35, was nabbed from Delhi airport.
An agent, Premsagar Ramswaroop, 23, who provided Sim cards, was nabbed from Haryana.
A key accused, IIT dropout Ashish Ravindranathan, is wanted in the case.