Operation Mule Hunt: Five held in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath in Rs 310 crore cyber fraud case
Superintendent of Police Jaideepsinh Jadeja said the case was registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station as part of the recently launched statewide ‘Operation Mule Hunt 2.0’ to identify mule account holders, bust cyber fraud networks and facilitate recovery of money lost by victims.
A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to receive, transfer or launder illegal funds with or without the knowledge of the account holder.
“This is the biggest case of cybercrime recorded in the region. The operation aims to ensure that money lost by victims of cybercrime is refunded as soon as possible and to curb the increasing practice of renting out bank accounts for illegal activities,” Jadeja told reporters on Sunday. he said.
According to the police, the investigation focused on Akash Pala, a resident of the district capital Veraval, whose two bank accounts were allegedly used for cyber fraud transactions across the country.
An account at Bank of India was linked to 193 complaints registered with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and showed suspicious transactions worth around Rs 282 million. Another account at Canara Bank was linked to 97 complaints regarding transactions worth around 37 billion rupees.
Police said a total of 290 complaints from different parts of the country were linked to the two accounts and the suspicious transactions amounted to over Rs 310 billion. The scam was uncovered during analysis of complaints found on NCCRP and Samanvay portals, as well as review of mule accounts identified by law enforcement agencies.
According to a statement from the regional police, authorities found that the account owner allegedly rented bank accounts for cyber fraud activities in exchange for commissions.
After the incident was recorded, the cybercrime police launched an investigation and arrested Pala. Subsequent technical analysis and interrogation led to the arrest of four more defendants.
The arrested persons were identified as Akash Pala and Deepak Giri from Veraval; Hiren Rajgor, Ajay Dafda – both from Rajkot and Ashutosh Thakar from Devbhumi Dwarka.
Police said further investigations were ongoing to identify others involved in the network and trace the flow of funds.
Earlier this month, police busted a cyber fraud racket involving illegal transactions worth Rs 398.43 billion through 13 mule accounts and arrested 14 people from Gujarat’s Patan district under ‘Operation Mule Hunt 2.0’.
