Lucknow: Barabanki cyber police have unearthed a cyber fraud network that allegedly siphoned off ₹14.68 crore from victims across multiple states by routing money through mule bank accounts operated by youths from Barabanki, Lucknow and Amethi.Police have registered an FIR against six accused and arrested three, while searches are underway to trace the remaining suspects. Superintendent of Police Arpit Vijayvargiya said the racket surfaced after a suspicious account was flagged on the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’s (I4C) cyber monitoring portal.Investigators found that Virendra Kumar of Marui village opened a Bank of Baroda account at the Haidergarh branch on July 17, 2025, and later allegedly handed over control of the account to cyber fraudsters in return for a 10% commission. Police said the account was used to receive proceeds of cyber fraud committed in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Records indicate that ₹14.68 crore linked to at least nine cyber fraud cases was routed through the network.Between July 29 and Aug 2, 2025, nearly ₹1.68 crore was transferred into Virendra’s account within four days, police said. During interrogation, he allegedly disclosed that he had provided his bank account, ATM card, passbook and other credentials to a network operating through Shivakant Tiwari of Amethi, Saurabh Tiwari of Barabanki, and Alok Soni and Sunil Bhardwaj of Lucknow.Police later arrested Alok Soni and Sunil Bhardwaj, who allegedly told investigators they had connected with a handler identified as Badshah through Telegram. Acting on instructions, the group allegedly travelled to a hotel in Palia, Lakhimpur Kheri, on July 26 and handed over ATM cards, passbooks and other banking documents.Investigators also said Alok Soni allegedly provided his IndusInd Bank account to the syndicate. The account has surfaced in 11 cyber fraud cases involving suspicious transactions of ₹25.35 lakh.Cases linked to the network include reported losses of ₹3.5 lakh in Kharghar, ₹2.89 crore in Noida, ₹90 lakh in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ₹36 lakh in Delhi, ₹23 lakh in Kerala, ₹1.74 crore in Coimbatore, ₹22 lakh and ₹58.50 lakh in separate Telangana cases, and ₹7.70 crore in Khammam.Police said verification has begun for 345 suspected mule accounts flagged on the Pratibimb cyber monitoring portal. Eight FIRs have been registered so far, and account holders from Haidergarh, Kothi, Subeha and Loni Katra areas have been questioned.
