International cyber scam discovered in Noida, Chinese national arrested

Five people, one of whom is Chinese, have been taken into custody by the Noida Police on suspicion of cyber fraud. Following a tip concerning the bulk purchase of SIM cards—some of which were discovered to be active in other countries and being used to run fake social media accounts—an exhaustive investigation resulted in the arrests. Convincing victims to invest money was part of the fraudulent scam, which was then transferred into mule accounts.

“Five people, including a Chinese national, who were part of a group duping common people through social media platforms have been arrested,” said DCP Mishra. The police seized a substantial amount of evidence from the suspects, including 21 mobile phones, 223 SIM cards (94 of which were new), two laptops, and seven Aadhaar cards.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Tenzin Kalsang, Krishna Murari, Tsering Dhondup, Shobhit Tiwari, and Chinese national Zhu Junkai. Additional DCP Manish Mishra provided further details about Zhu Junkai, stating that his visa is valid until August this year. Zhu was allegedly a facilitator for the fraud, acting as a crucial link between the other accused.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Noida 3) Shavya Goyal, who led the investigation, explained the group’s use of mule accounts—a recent modus operandi in cyber fraud. “Thugs take bank accounts from gullible individuals in exchange for a small fee per transaction. These accounts, known as mule accounts, are then used to transfer the illicit funds.”

A single transaction of Rs 51 lakh from one such mule account recently brought the group’s activities to the police’s attention, leading to their arrest. For each transaction through mule accounts, the accused paid Rs 3,000 for savings accounts and Rs 20,000 for corporate accounts, according to the police.

The investigation is ongoing as authorities trace the money trail and delve deeper into the group’s operations. An FIR has been lodged at the Expressway Police Station under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 420 (cheating), Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), and Sections 467 and 468 (related to forgery).