Mumbai: The Maharashtra nodal cyber police cracked a cyber fraud case and arrested two key members of the gang that allegedly lured a senior citizen into joining a WhatsApp group with 192 ‘members’. These members painted a rosy picture, promising the victim high returns and compelling him to invest Rs 2.58 crore with them, ultimately duping him.
The two accused, identified as Vinod Suryavanshi (34) and Anirudh Ravle alias Guddu (25), were arrested from a hotel parking lot in Turbhe, Navi Mumbai, following a sustained digital trail, the cyber cops said.
According to police sources, the complainant, a retail investor, was duped after responding to an investment-related advertisement on Facebook in Nov 2024. The ad led him to a WhatsApp group named ‘Axis Stock Exchange Group’, which was allegedly operated by individuals using names such as Karshi Tawadia and Rashi Arora.
After gaining the victim’s trust, the group admin instructed him to contact Rashi Arora, who sent him a link to download a dubious mobile application named “A Direct”. The complainant transferred money from his bank account on multiple dates. Police revealed that the fraudulently collected funds were routed through a complex web of nearly 2,000 bank accounts—20 in the first layer, 55 in the second, and 1,921 in the third layer—to disguise the money trail. One of these accounts, held with a bank in the Nerul branch, led investigators to a resident of Karave Village, Navi Mumbai, who confessed to having handed over his bank credentials to a friend named Bilal for a “gaming purpose.”
They were part of a group that collected hundreds of bank accounts from common citizens by offering Rs 2,000 commission per accoun, police said.
These accounts were then used to launder the defrauded money. — S Ahmed Ali