Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: For an ‘ethical hacker’ who completed a course from an Indian Institute of Technology, Girish Pandey could have had a brighter future. Instead, he allegedly teamed up with his friend Avinash, a physics graduate, and started working for a Cambodia-based international cybercrime network having Chinese handlers.In the past few months, their accounts were credited with more than Rs 5 crore — mostly the proceeds of crime, according to police. Their run was short-lived, however, as cops tracked them down and busted their module. The duo was arrested along with three others, including the alleged conduit between cybercriminals and the Cambodia-based kingpins.Confirming the arrests, special commissioner Ravindra Yadav said efforts were underway to identify and nab more members of the network.The accused were allegedly involved in a fake stock trading scheme, duping victims through WhatsApp and other chat platforms. The group came under the scanner after a resident of Karawal Nagar complained that he was duped of Rs 32 lakh through an investment fraud scheme, following which the Cyber Crime Unit of Northeast Delhi district started analysing his bank transactions.The accused were subsequently arrested during raids in Delhi, Aligarh, Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Basti and Kanpur. They were identified as Pandey (31), Suraj Chaudhary (26), Vicky Bora (27), Avinash Kumar (34) and Makkhan (32). Police seized two mobile phones, bank records and digital evidence, uncovering a money trail of over Rs 5 crore.Revealing their modus operandi, the accused told police they would add potential targets to fake advisory groups and collect money through fake companies, cooperative banks, offline RTGS and cryptocurrency (USDT). The victims would be lured into investing in Indian as well as US stocks and IPOs through a fake platform, and promised huge profits.Initially, the victims were shown profits, but later, when they demanded their money back, their accounts would be frozen, citing ‘penalties’, and they would be forced to invest more. The investigation revealed international connections, with Chinese operators and Cambodian associates involved in the transactions, said police.“Chaudhary provided an IDFC bank account to Bora for a 10% commission, while Bora was the mastermind linked to Chinese operator ‘Nio’ and coordinating with a Cambodian network. Pandey was involved in money laundering through a fake company, Travelese Bird Technology Pvt Ltd. Kumar was a partner in transactions worth Rs 9 lakh while Makkhan was an intermediary between shell account holders in India and Cambodia,” a senior police officer said.
Mayank Rawat
