Uttarakhand STF cracked Rs 250 cr cyber fraud, role of foreign criminals suspected
Uttarakhand Police’s Special Task Force (STF) has arrested an accomplice in a cyber fraud, using an app that promised to “double” people’s money, and allegedly siphoned off Rs 250 crore to foreign countries by converting Indian rupees to cryptocurrency.
The app named “Power Bank” was available on Google Play store until May 12, got people to invest money using several lucrative schemes. A team of STF arrested Pawan Kumar Pandey from Noida, sector 99. He is one of the directors in a shell company used by primary investors - believed to be from China - for siphoning off people’s money to foreign countries through cryptocurrency. The gang used Indian registered companies as shell companies for money laundering.
Ajay Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) STF, said, “The preliminary investigation has revealed that this fraud is worth over Rs 250 crore. Portions of the money deposited in different schemes through Power Bank applications was routed to foreign countries through cryptocurrency.”
The technical analysis found that the entire amount was being sent to different bank accounts through different payment gateways. STF also recovered 19 laptops, five mobile phones and 592 SIM cards from the possession of Pawan Kumar Pandey.
Uttarakhand Police has also sought help from Intelligence Bureau and Enforcement Directorate in the investigation, according to Abhinav Kumar, additional director general (ADG) of Uttarakhand Police. “The investigation in the matter was started after we received a series of complaints of fraud against the Power Bank application. During an investigation that went for more than 15 days, we found out the sheer scale of the scam,” said Singh. In all, Uttarakhand Police had received 20 complaints, including two filed with the cyber police station in Dehradun. A case was also registered under section 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66(c) and 66(d) of IT Act.
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