Delhi Police bust gang for duping nearly 2K people across country
New Delhi: With the recent arrest of six fraudsters, the IFSO unit of Delhi Police has busted a gang that has duped nearly 2,000 people across the country using a fraudulent loan app, police officials said on Monday.
The Special Cell received a complaint from a resident of Delhi’s Model Town, who alleged that some persons are extorting and blackmailing the public on the pretext of providing instant loans by getting access to their mobile data illegally through a loan app called ‘Cash Advance’. Further, on the search of the NCRP portal, a total of 102 complaints from the Delhi region and 1,977 from all over India were found lodged against the same application.
Adding, police suspected a transaction of approx Rs 350 crore and dubious crypto exchange has come on record. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), IFSO, Special Cell Prashant P Gautam, said that the unit subsequently conducted a preliminary enquiry and registered an FIR under section 384/385/420/120B IPC at Special Cell, and further investigation was taken up under the supervision of ACP Jai Prakash to identify and apprehend the culprits.
The senior cop said that during the course of the investigation, relevant details from various banks and ROC about the accounts, alleged companies and proprietorships were collected and it came to notice that companies were registered at the addresses of Delhi, Surat, Kerala and Kolkata.
However, the directors of these alleged companies were not traceable. “Hence, the team conducted a comprehensive analysis and carried out an exhaustive field investigation and finally succeeded in tracing the accused persons from different locations. Thereafter, simultaneous raids were conducted on these locations and accused persons were apprehended,” Prashant P Gautam, DCP, IFSO, Special cell mentioned.
Adding, “The gang used to offer short-term loans to users at ‘meagre interest rates’ through a mobile application- Cash Advance- and would get access to personal data of victims at the stage of installation of the application.” However, after giving the money through digital modes, they used to raise the interest rates exorbitantly and even after the repayment of the loan, they used to demand more money from the borrowers or their relatives
by threatening them in various ways like sharing their morphed pictures, the senior official confirmed.
During the investigation, police found that accused Gokul, Mustajab, Anisbhai, Ashok and Balwant had got registered fake companies and got bank accounts opened. It has been revealed that an amount of around Rs 350 crore is circulated in these accounts out of which Rs 83 crore are again disbursed as micro-loans to various persons after deducting the commission.
