Mumbai:

A 35-year-old woman from Mumbai has managed to turn the tables on some online scammers, when posing as cops, they tried to extract her bank account details. Kavita Patkar, a homemaker, has now filed a complaint with the police as well, after realizing that she had inadvertently given them her Aadhaar details and photographs. 

In the complaint filed with the police, Ms Patkar said she had received a call, which initially was a recorded message saying her mobile phone services will be disconnected soon. To know why, she was asked to press 1. 

When she did so, a man identifying himself as Rohit Singh came on call, posing as TRAI official, and explained her number was used to defraud around 15 to 20 people, who had all lodged a complaint against the number holder. 

He asked if she had lost her Aadhaar card or given it to someone who might have used it to get the phone number used in this crime. 

When Ms Patkar responded in the negative, he told her she would be connected to an officer from the Crime Branch, and she can email AP@trai.give.email.in to keep her phone number operative.

Soon, she was connected to another man, who introduced himself as a police officer, Sanjay Singh. He first asked for her photo and an image of her Aadhaar card on WhatsApp. Then he said he would question her on video call. She complied with his instructions. In the video call, he was seen in a Mumbai police uniform and Mumbai police logo was in the background.
Singh informed her that her account with the ICICI bank was used to receive 10 per cent of the Rs 2.60 crore laundered by a Pooja Mhatre. 

He proceeded to show her photos of five “suspects”, asking her if she recognised any of them. After she denied knowing them, he asked her for her bank account details as proof that it was not being used by the accused, failing which she would be jailed for two years.

Ms Patkar then realised something was amiss, and informed him that she would the police in person at the CP office and provide all documents.

The man immediately disconnected after which Ms Patkar filed an FIR as she had sent them her photos and Aadhar card.

New Delhi:

A man who forced many young men from India to commit cyber crimes through fake call centres on the promise of getting them jobs abroad has been arrested from Hyderabad by the Delhi Police yesterday after a 2,500-km chase.

Kamran Haider alias Zaidi carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh on information leading to his arrest, declared by the National Investigation Agency.

Zaidi and his accomplices used to traffic vulnerable young Indian men to the Golden Triangle Region in Southeast Asia, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, and force them to work in Chinese companies. Their passports would be taken away as soon as these men reached abroad and they would be forced into cyber crimes.

According to the Delhi Police, Zaidi was constantly changing his location and the police had deployed teams in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to catch him.

After manual inputs and technical surveillance, Zaidi’s location was finally traced to Hyderabad. “He was arrested after a long persevering chase of 2,500 kilometres by the team without any rest near Nampally Railway Station in Hyderabad while he was trying to escape another hideout,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Manoj C said.

The scam came to light after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered in New Friends Colony in Delhi on the complaint of a person named Naresh Lakhwat on May 27. He had told the police that he was looking for a job when he came across a consultancy firm called Ali Internation Service.

He got job offers from Thailand and Laos through the firm. The company eventually sent him to Thailand where his passport was snatched and he was forced to work in a Chinese firm.

The Chinese company used to scan Indians online, Mr Lakhwat told police. The case was later transferred to the National Investigative Agency (NIA).

An investigation by the NIA exposed the entire module and it was revealed that the young men were sent to the Golden Triangle where they were forced to dupe Indian, European and American citizens online.

The probe revealed that Manzoor Alam alias Guddu, Sahil, Ashish alias Akhil, Pawan Yadav alias Afzal and their leader Zaidi were involved in the human trafficking.

The investigation also revealed that the people sent from India to foreign countries for jobs were treated poorly. The traffickers also used to extort money through cryptocurrency from those who tried to escape their net.