Mohali, Jul 17 (PTI) The cybercrime wing of Punjab Police on Thursday said it has unearthed an online gaming fraud racket, which allegedly duped people of Rs 18 crore, with the arrest of eight persons in Mohali.

Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Harmandeep Singh Hans said the gang allegedly lured unsuspecting citizens across India with promises of high returns through online gaming apps.

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Acting on intelligence inputs, the Cyber Police of Mohali conducted raids at various residential areas of Kharar, including Koiyaan City Homes, Gillco Valley, and Royal Apartments.

During these raids, eight persons were apprehended, said police, adding that they seized Rs 2.50 lakh cash, five laptops, 51 mobile phones, 70 SIM cards and 127 bank ATM cards from their possession.

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Police said the accused operated through a website falsely promoting it as a platform to play online games and earn high profits.

"Initially, they lured victims by showing fake demo earnings on WhatsApp and offered attractive incentives to create user IDs. Victims were then directed to log in via a link and persuaded to transfer large sums of money through various accounts under the pretence of investing in games," said the SSP.

Investigation revealed that the racket was being run from two separate locations in Kharar.

Preliminary inquiry identified an individual named Vijay as the alleged mastermind behind the racket. He is currently absconding, said police, adding that efforts are underway to apprehend him.

The accused have been identified as Pankaj Goswami, Gurpreet Singh, Manjeet Singh and Ajay, all residents of Rajasthan; Bhaven Kumar Ulke, a resident of Nagpur in Maharashtra; Nikhil Kumar, a resident of Bihar; Harsh Kumar and Ritesh Majhi, residents of Madhya Pradesh, said police.

(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)