UP STF busts digital arrest gang involved in Rs 100 crore fraud

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested five members of a gang allegedly involved in extorting money to the tune of Rs 100 crore by digitally arresting over 100 victims. The gang posed as officers from the CBI, Narcotics Department, and Crime Branch, operating from a hotel in Gurugram, Haryana. The STF claimed that Pankaj Surela (28), a native of Alwar district in Rajasthan, was the mastermind of the 'digital arrest' gang. Senior officers said that Pankaj had been trained by Chinese handlers during a trip to Cambodia in March 2024. "The money obtained through this fraud was sent abroad via cryptocurrency. We have shared the details of the scam with the IB, ED, and other agencies," an officer said. The STF said that other members of the gang include Sagar Singh (24), a BTech dropout, Sunny Verma (24), a BBA graduate, Anshul Mahaur (21), a B.Com graduate, and Abhay Singh (21), also a BBA graduate, all residents of various districts in Uttar Pradesh. The four members, along with the mastermind, were arrested from Hotel Da Shan in Gurugram. The STF recovered six mobile phones, two ATM cards, one Aadhaar card, two PAN cards, one voter ID card, a railway medical card, and 133 WhatsApp screenshots containing bank account details used in the fraud. Additional SP, STF, Vishal Vikram Singh, said that Dr. Ashok Solanki of Lucknow filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police Station in August, reporting that he was digitally arrested by fraudsters posing as FedEx and Mumbai Crime Branch officers and coerced into transferring Rs 48 lakh to assist authorities. During interrogation, Pankaj revealed that in March 2024, he was offered Rs 3 lakh by one Suresh Sen, who sent him to Cambodia along with Pankaj Yadav and Bastiram Yadav, where they were trained by a Chinese-run company, the ASP said."The fraud network spanned multiple countries, with agents operating in India, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Nepal. According to Pankaj, Suresh Sen, a key figure in the operation, sent nearly 100 people from India to Cambodia for scamming activities. Once back in India, Pankaj, along with associates like Raj Kumar Singh and Sagar Singh, gathered bank account information to facilitate fraudulent activities. They then used APK files to install software on victims' phones, allowing them to access and control bank accounts remotely," he said."Pankaj and his gang operated over 500 bank accounts to execute cyber fraud, using multiple layers of accounts to launder money. Through this method, they laundered the stolen funds via cryptocurrency, sending 70% of the money to company wallets and keeping 30% as commission. The investigation also uncovered that this group was involved in cyber frauds during Diwali, where they siphoned off Rs 2.5 crore using a Canara Bank account provided by their associate, Sandeep," he added.
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