Lucknow: Basti police busted a two-member cyber fraud gang accused of posing as crime branch officers and extorting money from people across 12 states in the country.The gang allegedly threatened victims with arrest by claiming that their call detail records had been recovered and that they were facing cases for watching obscene videos. Two members of the gang have been arrested in Basti, police said.The arrested accused have been identified as Aditya Gupta (28), a resident of Maskanwa Bazaar under Chhapia police station in Gonda district, and Ajay Singh (24), a resident of Kanchanpur under Gujaini police station in Kanpur Nagar.Additional superintendent of police Shyamkant Karwat said an FIR was registered on Sept 5 in connection with a cyber fraud case, following which the two suspects were arrested. According to police, the accused would first collect information about a potential victim by entering the person’s mobile number on a UPI platform and obtaining his name and other details. They would then call the victim, introduce themselves as crime branch or senior police officers and claim that a 42-page call detail record (CDR) had been recovered against him.The accused would further tell the victim that he had been found watching obscene videos and that a criminal case was being registered against him. They allegedly used the threat of arrest and legal action to frighten victims and extract money.Police said the accused demanded around Rs 4 lakh on the pretext of getting the case closed through the court and another Rs 15,000 for settling the matter at the police station. Even after receiving the money, they allegedly continued threatening victims by changing their voices and posing as senior officials, claiming that the matter was more serious than initially stated.Police said the gang used several other methods of cyber fraud as well, including posing as foreign nationals and carrying out digital arrest scams.During interrogation, police found that Aditya had allegedly been involved in cybercrime for around two years. He reportedly arranged bank accounts and SIM cards for the gang to facilitate fraudulent transactions. In return, he allegedly received 30 per cent of the amount generated through the fraud.Police said Aditya operated a firm through which SIM cards were made available. He allegedly arranged 10 to 12 bank accounts for receiving fraudulent money and also obtained a SIM card linked to his brother’s name and address for banking purposes. His brother’s bank account was also allegedly used for receiving the proceeds of cyber fraud.The investigation revealed that the gang had also targeted a person in Jaunpur, from whom the accused allegedly extracted Rs 11,000 using the same modus operandi. In the cases being investigated, the accused allegedly cheated victims of a total of Rs 3.23 lakh, of which Rs 1.72 lakh has been put on hold, police said.Police recovered three mobile phones, five SIM cards, four ATM cards, two cheque books, two passbooks and Rs 4,000 in cash from the arrested accused.
