India News | Odisha: One More Arrested in Inter-state Mule Bank Accounts Racket

Bhubaneswar, Jan 17 (PTI) The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police has arrested one more person in the inter-state mule bank account scam case, taking the total number of arrests to five, officials said.

The accused, identified as Sourav Maity (30) from Paschim Medinipur district in West Bengal, was arrested on January 15 and is being brought to Odisha on transit remand. Police said he was produced before the court of CJM Barasat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

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The four others arrested in the case are Sk Hapizul and Sk Jahangir from Balasore in Odisha, Sk Jamiruddin from Paschim Medinipur, and Samim Islam from Murshidabad, West Bengal.

"This racket primarily operates in the tri-junction area of Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, especially in the districts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, East and West Singhbhum, and Saraikela," police said.

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"This racket was run by Sk Jamiruddin, who employed around 10-15 people to open bank accounts," the STF said.

These individuals visited interior areas of the districts, targeting mainly poor villagers and enticing them to open bank accounts. The villagers were usually offered Rs 2,000 per account in exchange for their documents and the opening of bank accounts, police said.

In turn, the gang sold these bank accounts, along with the connected mobile numbers, to various cyber, cyber-financial, sextortion scammers, and other criminals based in Kolkata and other parts of India. The STF mentioned that they also utilized social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram channels to sell the mule bank accounts.

The mule bank accounts were sold for Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per account, and approximately 5,000 accounts have been sold on different platforms so far.

"It has also come to our attention that the scammers frequently change the bank accounts. Generally, they abandon the accounts once it reaches a transaction of Rs 1 lakh," the STF said.

(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)