Cyber cell arrests gang for defrauding doctors of crores through fake investment schemes

Kanpur: The Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch arrested eight accused for defrauding three doctors of Rs 5.70 crore by luring them with promises of high returns from share market and IPO investments. A black Scorpio, 13 mobile phones, SIM cards, digital documents, banking details, debit cards, QR codes, cryptocurrency wallet details, Telegram and WhatsApp chat records and other documents were recovered from them.The first arrest was made when officers caught the mastermind during a WhatsApp call with a handler based in Indonesia. Others were identified and apprehended based on his information.The accused connected three doctors from a renowned pathology lab in Swaroop Nagar to a group called Launch Club H 49. They provided information on investing in the share market and IPO, then sent links to download fake apps. Through these apps, the doctors invested Rs 5.70 crore in multiple transactions. The accused had introduced themselves as representatives of a SEBI-registered company. After realising they had been cheated, the doctors filed an FIR at the Crime Branch police station.Investigators traced the calling server and the accounts to which money was transferred. During this process, the name of Nikhil Verma from Lucknow emerged. He was interrogated, leading to the arrest of the other accused.JCP (Crime) Ashutosh Kumar said "The gang's mastermind is Shivam Patel from Civil Lines, Fatehpur. He used to make WhatsApp calls to a handler based in Indonesia. Cyber Cell got the record of his calls. Along with him, Alok Kumar Gupta, resident of Pant Nagar, Gonda, was also in contact with the handler."The gang includes Salman from Naka Hindola, Lucknow, Ashwani from Ghazipur, Fatehpur, Shivkumar from Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, Nikhil Verma from Indira Nagar, Lucknow, Abhay Mishra alias Nitin from Karnailganj, Gonda, and Yogendra Singh Negi from Atrauli, Lucknow. Shivam Patel, Abhay Mishra, Shivkumar and Yogendra Singh Negi are pursuing LLB.Cyber Crime police station inspector Satish Chandra Yadav said "After the incident, police had frozen Rs 55 lakh." He added that other people are also involved in the gang and that similar gangs are operating, hatching conspiracies to cheat by luring investors with false promises. Their network is spread across Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, NCR, Haryana and other districts.