LUCKNOW: Rae Bareli Police have arrested seven members of an alleged cyber fraud syndicate that lured unsuspecting people into opening or handing over bank accounts on the pretext of starting new businesses and earning easy money, before using the accounts to channel proceeds of cybercrime.The arrests were made on Wednesday by a joint team of Mil Area Police Station, Cyber Police Station and the Special Operations Group (SOG)/Surveillance Cell during an operation near a primary school in Uframau village. The entire operation was conducted on the directions of Lucknow Range IG, Kiran S and Additional DG, Lucknow Zone, Praveen Kumar. Police said the gang was involved in fraudulently obtaining control over victims’ bank accounts, ATM cards, passbooks and registered mobile SIM cards, which were then allegedly used to route money generated through cyber frauds.The case came to light after a complainant approached Mil Area Police Station on July 21, alleging that his acquaintance, Sameer Valmiki, had persuaded him to allow the use of his bank account for financial transactions related to a proposed new business venture.According to the complaint, Sameer took possession of the victim’s passbook, ATM card and registered SIM card, assuring him that the account would be used only for legitimate business transactions.The complainant later discovered that multiple unauthorised financial transactions had been carried out of Rs 1.50 lakh through his account without his knowledge or consent. When he confronted the accused, he was allegedly abused and threatened with dire consequences.Acting on technical surveillance and intelligence inputs, the joint police team apprehended the seven accused from the Uframau area. The arrested accused have been identified as Sameer Valmiki, Shivank Mishra alias Shiva, Ritik Kumar, Lucky Singh, Ranvijay Singh, Vaibhav Srivastava alias Sunny, and Abhishek.Superintendent of police, Rae Bareli, Ravi Kumar during interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed that they targeted people with limited financial awareness by promising them lucrative returns through new business ventures or online income opportunities.Police said the gang convinced victims to hand over their passbooks, ATM cards, Aadhaar cards and registered mobile numbers, claiming that money earned through online gaming or other legitimate sources would be credited to their accounts.Instead, the accused allegedly used these accounts to receive, transfer and layer money generated through cyber frauds, thereby concealing the origin of the illegally obtained funds and making it difficult for investigators to trace the transactions.Cash, forged documents and banking instruments seizedDuring the operation, police recovered Rs 14,100 in cash, suspected to be linked to cyber fraud proceeds, seven forged Aadhaar cards, ten mobile phones, ten ATM cards, four bank passbooks and two cheque books.Police said the recovered documents and banking instruments were allegedly used to facilitate fraudulent financial transactions.Investigators said Shivank Mishra has multiple criminal cases registered against him, including offences related to cheating, criminal intimidation and the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act.Another accused, Lucky Singh, also has a previous criminal case registered against him under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.According to police, Sameer, son of Sonu, worked as a cleaner at shops in the urban areas of Rae Bareli and allegedly played a key role in procuring bank accounts and ATM cards used by the cyber fraud syndicate.Shivang alias Shiva, son of Vijay, was pursuing a B.Tech degree at a private engineering College, Lucknow. Police said he was the main accused in a temple idol theft case registered about eight months ago in the Dalmau police station area. He has since dropped out of college and is currently living in Lucknow.Lucky Singh had previously worked as a driver in Rajasthan, where, according to police, he came into contact with members of the criminal network.Ritik, son of Rakesh alias Jitendra, is employed at a shopping mall in the Ashiyana area of Lucknow. Police alleged that he acted as a link in the syndicate by facilitating the movement of bank accounts and ATM cards arranged by Sameer, Shivang and Lucky Singh to persons identified as Abdullah, Shani and Ranvijay.Investigators further alleged that the SIM cards linked to these bank accounts were procured by Abhishek Bharti, son of Mahavir Prasad, a resident of Telibagh. According to police, the SIM cards were routed to other members of the syndicate through Ritik and Abhishek. Police added that Abhishek did not have any regular employment and generally remained at home.
