New Delhi: The Cyber Cell of Delhi Police has successfully arrested a gang involved in duping people in the name of a fake DDA housing scheme.
The police had received information through the registered complaint dated August 8 on the online cybercrime portal at Police Station Cyber East.
The arrested accused were identified as Amit Kumar (36), Nizamuddin (33), Sulabh Namdev (22), and Ram Avtar (48), all residents of Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The accused Amit and Nizamuddin had graduation degrees, however, Amit was the owner of a gift shop and E-Suvidha Kendra and Nizamuddin was an unregistered doctor in a rural area.
According to the police, the case was initiated when a complaint was filed by a person who fell victim to a fraudulent advertisement on Facebook.
The ad, claiming to be associated with DDA, led him to a suspicious website, www.DDAHOUSING.com. After filling out a form on the site, the victim received emails from info@ddahousing.com, providing further details on flat bookings.
Subsequently, a phone call from an alleged DDA official, Ranjan Mehta, lured the victim into depositing Rs 50,000 into a bank account, which was supposedly for flat booking.
However, when the fraudsters demanded an additional Rs 5 lakh, the victim realised he had been deceived and promptly reported the incident to the police.
During the course of the investigation, the bank statements of the accused were obtained and analysed, revealing that they had withdrawn the ill-gotten funds from various ATMs in eastern UP.
CCTV footage from these ATMs provided crucial leads, which eventually led to the identification of the gang members.
All four accused had no previous criminal involvement, making this operation a significant achievement in curbing cybercrime in the region. The investigation is ongoing to identify other associates and potential victims in this case
The recovery of three mobile phones and one laptop will be instrumental in furthering the investigation and potentially uncovering more about the gang’s modus operandi and other victims.