UP Cyber Police uncovers Part Time Job Scam

Cyber Crime police of Uttar Pradesh have busted a part-time job scam network where the scammers specially targeted those who lost their jobs during the pandemic or were housemakers. The initial investigation shows that the scam ran over Rs 3,000 cr.

During the investigation, UP police found scammers were sending lakhs of messages across India in a day, and many were falling into their trap. The cybercriminals were converting all the money into cryptocurrency and had opened wallets in all the major crypto exchanges, which were further sent to shell companies in foreign countries.

During the tracking, police found the link of a man identified as Jaidev Dey, who created a fake NGO Assam Rural Development Society, and got Rs 200 Cr. Police arrested Manjrul Islam of Dolphin Consultant Service Private Limited of Gurugram, who received Rs 14 cr from this scam. During the questioning he confirmed working for a Chinese national, and the money was transferred to different countries.

UP cyber police started the investigation after a Bareilly-based woman lost Rs 2.10 lakh after falling for high commission against an investment scam. The police are trying to examine how many people were cheated by the gang and who were the people involved in the chain, including the ultimate beneficiary.

Prof Triveni Singh, SP, Cyber Crime, UP Police, said, “During our investigation we found the stolen money was sent to three UPI accounts. While digital tracing these UPIs were found. This was just a tip of an iceberg as these were further linked with various crypto wallets. Detailed investigation showed 95 wallets in HUOBI, 64 wallets in Binance, 21 wallets of OKEX, two wallets each of Poloniex, Smart Cont, OK Coin and BitPie, one wallet attached to Bitfinex and FTX exchange was found. The total amount circulating in these exchanges is worth Rs 3,000 Cr.”

Singh further said around Rs 1,413 Cr was transferred in 56 wallets of Binance, out of which only six wallets were based in India, rest were found in China, Philippines and Malaysia. Using these wallets, the money was sent to several fake companies and trusts located in different foreign countries to hide money transfers and avoid getting caught by the law enforcement agencies.