Varanasi: Chandauli police arrested 12 accused during a major crackdown under the statewide Cyber Vajra campaign against cybercrime. The operation was carried out jointly by the cyber cell, cyber crime police station and teams from various police stations across the district on Sunday.Police constituted nine teams and conducted simultaneous raids against suspects allegedly involved in cyber fraud through mule bank accounts, suspicious mobile numbers, NCMEC tipline inputs, suspicious cheque withdrawals and ATM cash withdrawals.According to police, action has been initiated against 14 accused, of whom 12 have been arrested. The accused are allegedly linked to 51 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from different states. The total suspected fraud amount is estimated at around Rs 1.8crore, of which nearly Rs 1.4 crore has been put on hold.The arrested accused were–Virendra Kumar, Ashish Patwa, Soni, Shekhar Kushwaha, Sajid Ansari, Vikash Kumar, Manoj Yadav, Shivjanam and Dharmu Chauhan, all residents of Chandauli district; Shubham alias Shivam alias Priyanshu of Farrukhabad; Satish Rai of Jhansi; and Deepak Singh of Varanasi.Police said the accused were allegedly involved in receiving and withdrawing cyber fraud money through multiple methods, including operating mule bank accounts opened in the name of investment, gaming, trading and other online activities, receiving fraud proceeds through cheque withdrawals, using suspicious mobile numbers on WhatsApp and Telegram to lure victims through trading and task-based frauds, withdrawing fraudulent money through ATMs linked to mule accounts, and storing and uploading obscene videos and photographs based on NCMEC tipline inputs.Police registered 11 cases under relevant sections of BNS, Information Technology Act and Pocso Act at Chandauli cyber crime police station and Chakia police station.Issuing an advisory, police urged citizens not to share personal or banking details after being influenced by attractive online offers or advertisements. In case of cyber fraud, victims have been advised to immediately call the national cyber helpline 1930 within 24 hours or lodge a complaint through NCRP or at the nearest police station cyber helpdesk.
