New Delhi: The Cyber Police Station in Delhi’s Shahdara district has busted a gang involved in impersonating Paytm executives and cheating street vendors and small business owners. Five accused have been arrested in connection with a cyber fraud case involving Rs 95,000, police said on Saturday.
According to the police, the accused allegedly targeted unsuspecting vendors and shopkeepers by posing as Paytm representatives and offering assistance with KYC-related issues, QR code updates and soundbox replacement. The investigation has revealed that the gang may have cheated around 50 to 60 victims using a similar modus operandi.
The case was registered as FIR No. 55/26 on October 26 at the Cyber Police Station, Shahdara, under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, following a complaint by Ramavtar, a vegetable vendor.
Police said that on October 20, two persons approached Ramavtar claiming to be Paytm executives. On the pretext of resolving KYC-related issues and updating his QR code soundbox, they took possession of his mobile phone. Subsequently, two unauthorised transactions of Rs 50,000 and Rs 45,000 were carried out, resulting in a total loss of Rs 95,000.
The investigation was assigned to Inspector Shweta Sharma. A dedicated team comprising Inspector Sharma, ASI Rajdeep, Head Constables Javed, Deepak and Narender was formed to crack the case.
The team worked under the leadership of SHO Cyber Police Station Vijay Kumar, under the supervision of ACP Operations Avdhesh Kumar and the overall supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara.
During the investigation, police analysed the money trail, bank accounts and CCTV footage, which led to the arrest of five accused people.
Two of the accused impersonated Paytm executives to cheat victims, while the remaining three allegedly provided bank accounts to route and withdraw the cheated money.
The arrested accused have been identified as Juned, 23, a resident of Chhaprauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Baraut; Anas, 19, a resident of Sangam Vihar, Wazirabad; Mohit, 24, and Rohit, 19, both residents of Bhalswa Dairy in North Delhi; and Sumit Kumar, 19, a resident of Aya Nagar in South Delhi.
Police said a Paytm employee identity card was found on the mobile phone of Juned, who had previously been associated with the company. The accused are suspected to be involved in 50 to 60 similar incidents, while their bank accounts have been linked to around 20 cybercrime complaints and cases registered across India.
Six mobile phones, seven SIM cards, four ATM cards and three cash withdrawal slips were recovered during the investigation.
Further investigation is underway.
(IANS)
