Odisha: Six held for duping LIC officer of Rs 78 lakh

Bhubaneswar, May 4 (IANS) The Commissionerate Police, Bhubaneswar, has arrested six cyber criminals from Odisha’s Balangir district who duped an LIC officer of Rs 78 lakh, promising high returns through investment in the share market.

The accused were identified as Bijaya Kumar Meher (28) and Bishwambhar Kharsel (27) from Belpada; Rajesh Tandi (20), Anil Naik (21), Sritam Meher (19) and Dipak Dharua (24) from Patnagarh area of Balangir district.

The police on Sunday revealed that the victim on April 24 lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime and Economic Offence Police Station in Cuttack in which he alleged that he came into contact with a trading company named Spreadex Global Ltd through a Telegram ID: @good_priya operated by a person identifying herself as Priya Bajaj in February this year.

The alleged fraudster convinced the LIC officer to invest in the stock market by promising high financial returns. As a result, the complainant initially transferred Rs 12 lakh from his Kotak Mahindra Bank account to a DBS Bank account. The complainant deposited a total of Rs 78 lakh in different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters between February and April this year.

“Based on the data provided by banks and the telecom authority, the cops initiated a technical analysis to identify the individuals involved in the cybercrime. Although the WhatsApp and Telegram numbers used by the fraudsters were VPN-based and their IP addresses were traced to foreign locations, the investigation team successfully retrieved login details and obtained ATM/Cash withdrawal footage from the banks,” said police sources.

Police also managed to identify the mobile numbers linked to the fraudulent accounts, leading to the apprehension of the accused persons from Balangir district.

The Commissionerate Police also revealed that the fraudsters' group gathered bank accounts and phone numbers of individuals across India, and used these details to route and collect the defrauded funds. They duped the gullible targets through fake Telegram profiles and used them to join and operate fraudulent investment groups, where they encouraged people to invest in USDT (Tether cryptocurrency) with promises of high returns.

--IANS

gyan/uk