Surat: The Surat cybercrime police have arrested a 20-year-old man from Silvassa in connection with an online fraud in which a victim was allegedly duped of Rs 26.12 lakh through a fake social media task and investment scheme. The victim was initially contacted over ShareChat by the cyber fraud gang, with further communication taking place on Telegram.The accused, identified as Aditya Pandey, was arrested after a technical investigation by the cybercrime team. According to the police, the accused and his associates sent a link to the victim on Telegram, offering a simple task of viewing reels. To gain the victim’s confidence, the fraudsters initially credited Rs 150 to his bank account as payment for completing the task.The accused then lured the victim into making payments and investments through links to fake and forged websites shared on Telegram. The victim was persuaded to transfer money into multiple bank accounts.In all, the victim transferred Rs 26,12,791. When he subsequently sought to withdraw the money, the fraudsters prevented the withdrawal.Investigators found that Rs 1.20 lakh from the victim was transferred to an HDFC Bank account held by the arrested accused on January 8, 2026. Police said the accused had provided his bank account to another accused, identified as Arif, through Telegram for illegal transfer of cyber-fraud money in return for a 3% commission. The probe also revealed that transactions worth Rs 51.31 lakh had taken place through the accused’s savings account between December 4, 2024 and May 12, 2026. Police officials found a disputed amount of Rs 1.63 lakh in the account.Further verification through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) showed that the same bank account had been linked to four complaints from different states involving fraud of Rs 1.97 crore.
