India News | Delhi Police Busts Cyber Fraud Syndicate, Three Held for Phishing Scam
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi Police has dismantled an organized cyber fraud syndicate operating across India and arrested three key members of the gang for creating fake banking websites and phishing links to deceive unsuspecting victims, an official said on Wednesday.
New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Delhi Police has dismantled an organized cyber fraud syndicate operating across India and arrested three key members of the gang for creating fake banking websites and phishing links to deceive unsuspecting victims, an official said on Wednesday.
The accused used advanced digital techniques to steal sensitive banking information, leading to widespread financial fraud, he said.
"The gang targeted people by impersonating representatives of a renowned bank, offering lucrative credit card deals. Victims were sent phishing links that directed them to counterfeit banking websites designed to collect their personal and financial information," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Nidhin Valsan said.
The officer further said that the fraudsters utilised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to hide their digital footprints and operated through fraudulent hosting platforms to run their scam.
Police have linked over 500 complaints to this scam through a portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The gang is believed to have created more than 10 phishing websites for their fraudulent operations.
"One of the accused sourced hundreds of SIM cards by paying low-income people between Rs 300 and Rs 500 per card, later destroying them to erase digital traces," said the DCP.
The crackdown was initiated after a complaint was received on February 11 via the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
The complainant, Harikesh Kumar Yadav from Siraspur, Delhi, reported a fraudulent transaction of Rs 21,400 after receiving a phishing link disguised as a private bank's credit card offer. His other credit card was subsequently misused for unauthorised transactions, he said.
Following the complaint, an inquiry was ordered, and an FIR was registered. Raids were conducted at multiple locations in Delhi, including Rama Vihar, Shiv Vihar and Tatesar village.
The police arrested three accused, identified as Jaideep Kumar (31), a tech-savvy fraudster with expertise in Java, HTML, CSS, and ReactJS. He had prior cyber fraud charges and was previously arrested by the Special Cell/IFSO; Ajay (27), a school dropout but well-versed in credit card fraud and other financial scams; and Rakesh Rajaram Jaiswal (33), known for his persuasive communication skills, previously arrested in a cyber fraud case in Faridabad.
"During interrogation, the suspects initially refused to cooperate. However, sufficient digital and financial evidence led to their arrests.
The fraudsters contacted victims, offering them new credit cards. They sent phishing links via SMS or email, which redirected users to fake banking websites where their credentials were stolen. To bypass security measures, the accused tricked victims into downloading malicious applications that intercepted OTPs, enabling unauthorized transactions," said the DCP.
The officer said that Jaideep used DuckDNS to set up fraudulent domains and built PHP-based fake websites. Rakesh operated the call centre, while Ajay sourced SIM cards for illicit use.
Teams recovered 11 mobile phones and a laptop containing critical evidence related to phishing operations and fraudulent transactions.
"We are actively pursuing the mastermind, a known criminal from Delhi with prior involvement in murder and violent crimes. The investigation is ongoing," he added.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)