Bank account rental fraud racket busted

Siliguri: The Cyber Crime Police of Barrackpore Metropolitan, with the assistance of the Siliguri Ashighar Outpost Police, arrested six individuals in connection with a massive bank account rental fraud amounting to approximately Rs 5.5 crore. The arrests were made following a joint raid on a house in the Eastern Bypass area near Siliguri on Friday.

The accused, identified as Riju Roy, Partha Mandal, Subham Barik, Somnath Tarafder, Sandip Dey, are all residents of Siliguri. During the raid, police recovered multiple mobile phones, ATM cards and bank passbooks, which were allegedly used in the fraudulent scheme.

According to police reports, the suspects had rented the house to create various WhatsApp and stock market groups. They lured individuals with the promise of monetary rewards in exchange for renting their bank accounts.

The fraudsters primarily targeted uneducated or less educated individuals, offering them Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for the use of their bank accounts. These accounts were then used to conduct transactions worth lakhs of rupees.

The investigation began after a complaint was lodged at the Baranagar Police Station in Barrackpore on September 25. Acting on the complaint, the Barrackpore Cyber Crime Police traced the fraudulent activities to Siliguri.

The arrested individuals were produced in Jalpaiguri Court on Saturday and have been taken to Barrackpore in transit remand for further investigation. Police are continuing their probe into the extent of the fraud and are working to identify and apprehend any additional suspects involved in the racket.