Cyberabad Police bust mule account racket; four held
HYDERABAD: Cyberabad Police have arrested four persons, including two bank managers, for allegedly opening mule accounts used to park money siphoned off in cyber frauds.
Fake rental deal used to open account
Cyber Crime Deputy Commissioner of Police T Sai Manohar said the accused Jawwad Khadri Rafai (28), Mohammed Naushad (21), Mohammed Anas Khan and others, formed a gang and arranged bank accounts to receive proceeds of online scams.
They allegedly rented a shutter in Pahadishareef and created a fake rental agreement in the name of Star Agro Industries. Using the forged documents, they opened a joint current account at Yes Bank’s affiliate, Mercantile Cooperative Urban Bank Limited, Jubilee Hills, with the help of sales manager Pamula Pranav Raj (46) and branch manager Shankar Rathi (51).
The account was handed over to cyber fraudsters, who transferred more than ₹6.67 lakh siphoned from victims in October into the mule account. A commission was paid to the account holders, police said.
Gang opened 30 accounts, say police
Police said the gang, along with Pranav Raj and Shankar Rathi, opened 30 such accounts and supplied them to cyber criminals.
Based on complaints received, police launched an inquiry and arrested Khadri Rafai, Naushad, Pranav Raj and Shankar Rathi on February 26. Efforts are on to trace the remaining accused.
Commission lure led to account misuse
Police have also registered cases against several persons who allegedly shared their bank account details with unknown individuals online in return for commission.
They identified Bhongiri Ashok Kumar, Kinnera Arunkumar, Tipparapu Sadanandam, Annarapu Nagarjuna, Rangiri Kishore, Keesara Karthik Reddy and Nomula Venu, all from Uppal, as having provided their accounts to cyber fraudsters for monetary gain.
