Two accused arrested for collecting bank accounts for cyber fraud

Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police arrested two persons for allegedly collecting several bank accounts and using them for cyber fraud. The accused, Mohammed Aneesh, 30, from Kasaba Bengre, Kuloor Post, and Saleeth Ahmed M, 32, from Surathkal, used the bank account of an acquaintance for a cyber fraud. Cyber command unit stated that, a complainant Mohammed Sinan approached Mangaluru City cyber crime police station on Wednesday, and lodged a complaint stating that his bank account was taken by his acquaintances, Mohammed Aneesh and Saleeth Ahmed M, under the pretext of using it for a trading business, and that the account was later used for cyber fraud. Based on this complaint, a case was registered under section 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT act and under section 308 (5), 318(4), 319 (2), 3 (5) of BNS. During the investigation, technical evidence was collected and analysed.The accused revealed that they purchased USDT from Indians at a lower price, and sold it at a higher price to scammers in China. The Chinese scammers transferred money obtained from cyber fraud committed against Indians into the bank accounts provided by the accused. To facilitate these transactions, the accused collected bank accounts from general public in Mangaluru. The police seized four mobile phones, 18 debit cards, 17 bank passbooks, six cheque books, USDT 1,479.31, and a car.It was also found that the accused had full knowledge of the cyber fraud. Whenever complaints were registered against the bank accounts used for cyber fraud, and the accounts were frozen, they collected new bank accounts and continued using them for fraudulent activities.Further interrogation revealed that the accused collected more than 70 bank account details from the public, in Mangaluru city and and used them for cyber fraud. Out of these, 37 bank accounts were already reported on NCRP portal, with more than 88 complaints registered across the country. Further investigation is being conducted.