Bank official among three held in Bhojpur mule account scam

Ara: Bhojpur cyber police on Friday arrested two cybercriminals and a finance company bank official for allegedly opening mule bank accounts to route illegal funds. The accounts were opened in the names of at least 27 innocent or gullible residents of the district and were later used to transfer fraud money.The arrested bank official was allegedly complicit in opening these mule accounts in exchange for commission. The victims were lured with an offer of Rs2,000-Rs3,000 to open bank accounts, which were later misused by cyberfrauds.Addressing a press conference on Friday, Bhojpur cyber DSP-cum-SHO Sneh Setu said acting on a tip-off received by Ara Town police station on Feb 5, police apprehended two persons involved in opening mule accounts for cyberfraud.“The arrested cyber criminals, identified as Rohit Kumar and Mohit Kumar, had details of illegal transactions stored in their cellphones. During interrogation, they revealed the involvement of some bank officials in opening mule accounts and unfreezing accounts,” the DSP said.Based on evidence, cyber police arrested Suman Sourav Chouhan, a senior sales executive of the finance company. Multiple illegal transaction details were recovered from his seized phone.Explaining the modus operandi, the DSP said cyber fraudsters lure innocent people by promising them Rs2,000-Rs3,000 for opening bank accounts. After the accounts were opened, the fraudsters took possession of passbooks, ATM cards and SIM cards of the account holders. These mule accounts were then used to transfer fraud money.“So far, 27 persons from Bhojpur district have been identified as victims who were duped into opening such accounts,” Sneh Setu said.He added that the cyber police station had received complaints from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where fraud victims’ money was illegally transferred through UPI scanners into these mule accounts. Raids are underway to arrest other gang members and bank officials allegedly involved in it.