New Delhi: The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police has dismantled an online loan scam syndicate and arrested five individuals, including the kingpin, involved in defrauding a victim through a fake personal loan disbursement.
The police were informed about the fraud through a complaint registered at the Cyber Police Station South West.
The accused were identified as Himanshu Kumar Gautam (26), resident of Rama Park, Uttam Nagar, Sachin (28), resident of Gulab Bagh, Uttam Nagar, Asif Ali (26), resident of New Seelampur, and two residents of Kotputli, Rajasthan, Raj Swami (22) and Hemraj Gurjar (21).
According to the police, the arrested accused, Himanshu Gautam, the mastermind, orchestrated the entire operation by impersonating representatives of financial institutions.
The case was registered as an e-FIR under sections 318(4)/319(2)/61(2)/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Cyber Police Station, South-West District, following a complaint by a woman from Palam, Delhi.
She reported receiving a call from a fraudster posing as a bank executive who offered to help redeem her credit card reward points.
Under this pretext, the accused obtained her OTPs and fraudulently disbursed a pre-approved personal loan of 11.95 lakh rupees into her HDFC Bank account, which was swiftly transferred to other accounts.
A team led by Inspector Pravesh Kaushik and supervised by ACP Vijay Pal Singh Tomar began an extensive investigation involving technical surveillance, call data analysis, and CCTV tracking.
The probe revealed that the defrauded money was first deposited in a mule account belonging to Hemraj Gurjar and subsequently withdrawn through cheques and ATMs in Vishal Enclave, Delhi.
Acting on intelligence, the police arrested Hemraj and his associate Raj Swami, followed by the arrests of
Asif Ali and Sachin, whose leads helped nab the mastermind, Himanshu.
During interrogation, the accused confessed that Himanshu impersonated bank officials to secure OTPs, while Sachin arranged mule accounts, Asif sourced account holders, and Hemraj and Raj withdrew the funds. Police said all the accused shared the proceeds among themselves as commission.
The recovered mobile phones are being analyzed for digital evidence, and further investigation is underway to identify other potential victims and accomplices.