Bhubaneswar: Cyber police in Cuttack arrested six men on Sunday for allegedly defrauding an insurance professional of Rs 78 lakh through a fake online investment scheme.
The accused were identified as Bijaya Kumar Meher (28), Bishwambhar Kharsel (27), Rajesh Tandi (20), Anil Naik (21), Sritam Meher (19) and Dipak Dharua (24), all from Balangir district.
Police officers said the victim came across an attractive investment opportunity advertised on social media in Feb this year. After expressing interest, he was added to a chat group by an unidentified person. The fraudsters then convinced him to make small initial investments, which appeared to generate significant returns, building his confidence in the scheme.
The victim was then persuaded to make larger investments. Between Feb and April, he invested a staggering Rs 78 lakh without validating the online platform’s authenticity. He received assurances of returns exceeding Rs 1 crore within two to three weeks.
The fraudsters displayed an artificially inflated value of his investment on a fake e-wallet. When he attempted to withdraw, they demanded additional deposits. Despite complying, he could not access his funds.
After realising he had been duped, he lodged a complaint with the cyber police station on April 24. Cyber police subsequently launched an investigation and tracked down the suspects through digital forensics and surveillance.
“Our investigations revealed the six accused from Balangir were connected to a larger interstate cybercrime operation. They were mostly involved in establishing mule bank accounts for receiving funds from victims. Some of them also created fake social media profiles to attract targets,” DCP (Cuttack) Rishikesh Khilari said.
The main orchestrators, who operated the entire network, have been identified. “A team would visit another state to arrest the main perpetrators who established the chat groups and contacted the victim to encourage investment. Several accounts with Rs 7.38 lakh in deposits have been frozen. Around Rs 4.3 lakh in cash, several phones, debit cards, cheque books and SIM cards have been seized,” Khilari said.