Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police have claimed to have busted a cyber fraud racket and arrested five persons for their alleged involvement in the scam. The accused were identified as Shaik Tajuddin (38) of Andhra Pradesh, Muchumari Chitti Babu (34) of Andhra Pradesh, Denzo alias Laleng Zauva Kaipeng (28) and Jiten Kaipeng (21) of Tripura and James alias Elvish Tara (36) of Guwahati, Assam. They were accused of duping a man of over Rs 36 lakh by impersonating Mumbai Crime Branch officials. All of them were arrested basing on a cyber fraud police complaint filed on May 7 this year and subsequent investigation. They have been broght to Odisha on three days' remand for further probe.

In the complaint, the victim had alleged that he received a call from number 8162506508, alleging an illegal parcel being sent from Mumbai to Taiwan using his Aadhaar card number. Subsequently, he was connected to individuals posing as Mumbai Cyber Crime Branch officials who monitored the complainant via Skype for three days, claiming that four illegal bank accounts had been opened using his Aadhaar card. They then coerced the complainant into transferring ₹36,34,400 from his ICICI Bank account. Realizing the fraud, the complainant reported the incident on the Online Cybercrime Portal, the official release stated further adding that the scam involves perpetrators contacting victims, pretending to be FedEx representatives, and informing them of a supposed digital arrest during a Skype call where they demand money for the victim's release by asking the latter to provide specific bank account details for fund transfers.

Police also informed that they have seized a substantial amount of evidence, including over 80 bank accounts, more than 60 ATM cards, 30 SIM cards, 23 mobile phones, 2 laptops, and one Car and other digital evidences. Further investigations have revealed that these accounts are implicated in cases reported across multiple states in India.

The accused have been arrested under Sections 419/420/467/468/471/34 of IPC and with Sections 66(C)/66 (D) IT Act. They all were running bank accounts of innocent people by cheating them and telling them that the account will be used for legal online gaming platform with a good return. All of them have been booked for identity theft for illegal financial transactions without the knowledge of the account holder, police said.