In a major cybercrime crackdown, the Aligarh police have dismantled an interstate cyber fraud network with international links, preventing an estimated ₹1,200 crore from being siphoned off from unsuspecting citizens across the country. The operation led to the arrest of 12 accused and the shutdown of more than 600 fraudulent WhatsApp groups.
Police officials said the gang had links to Hong Kong and was targeting nearly 1.5 lakh people nationwide. Swift technical surveillance and coordinated action by the Aligarh police ensured that the fraud was intercepted within 48 hours, averting large-scale financial losses.
The case came to light following a complaint by Dinesh Sharma, a retired bank employee from Aligarh, who was allegedly cheated of ₹1.10 crore under the guise of stock market investment. Taking cognisance of the complaint, Senior Superintendent of Police directed the formation of a special investigation team led by SP (Rural) Amrit Jain.
As the investigation progressed, the police uncovered a well-organised cybercrime syndicate operating across multiple states, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The gang allegedly used WhatsApp groups to lure victims with false promises of high returns through stock market and mutual fund investments.
Investigators revealed that the fraudsters created fake firms and opened so-called “mutual bank accounts” in the names of unsuspecting individuals to launder the money. In several cases, victims were subjected to what police described as “digital arrest”, where they were psychologically coerced into transferring funds to overseas bank accounts, primarily in Hong Kong.
According to police data, the gang had created over 600 WhatsApp groups, enrolling nearly 1.5 lakh people. With the assistance of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), all such groups were blocked nationwide.
The arrested accused include Jagannath, Devashish, Jitendra and Rankanidhi Nayak from Odisha; Suraj Singh and Ravindra Singh from Uttarakhand; Durgesh from Chhattisgarh; Surendra Kumar from Haryana; Navneet Lahri from Rajasthan; and Rizwan from Uttar Pradesh.
Police seized cash amounting to ₹5.64 lakh along with a large quantity of technical and financial material, including passbooks, cheque books, ATM and SIM cards, debit and credit cards, laptops, mobile phones, routers, cameras, and seals of fake companies.
Addressing a press conference, SP (Rural) Amrit Jain urged the public to remain cautious. “Do not trust investment advice received through unknown WhatsApp groups. Always invest through authorised platforms. Any scheme promising to double money in a short time is fraudulent,” he said. He also advised victims of cybercrime to immediately dial 1930 or lodge complaints through the national cybercrime portal.
