During searches, police recovered Rs 5 lakh in cash, 171 cheque books, 75 ATM cards, 20 mobile phones, laptops, computers, several passbooks, credit cards and a Hyundai Verna car.
A routine investigation by Puducherry’s Cyber Crime Police has uncovered a major cyber-fraud being operated by engineering college students. The probe has revealed that a group of students helped cybercriminals move large sums of money by selling access to bank accounts belonging to friends and classmates.
The incident came to light after two students — Dinesh and Jayapratap — approached the police when their bank accounts were unexpectedly frozen. They told the officers that they had shared their account details with their friend Harish, who later emerged as one of the key accused.
Police soon learnt that Harish had collected more than 20 bank accounts from students and people outside the campus. These were turned into “mule accounts” to route scam money, with investigators estimating that at least Rs 7 crore passed through them.
Seven men have been arrested so far, including four engineering graduates. They have been identified as Thomas alias Hayagriva, Harish, Ganesan, Govindaraj, Yashwin, Rahul and Ayyappan. During searches, police recovered Rs 5 lakh in cash, 171 cheque books, 75 ATM cards, 20 mobile phones, laptops, computers, several passbooks, credit cards and a Hyundai Verna car.
One of the central figures, Ganesan, allegedly handled the conversion of withdrawn money into cryptocurrency. According to investigators, he worked with cyber-criminals in China and transferred the converted funds through Telegram in return for commission payments.
Speaking to NDTV, Puducherry’s Senior Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Nithya Radhakrishnan, IPS, said, “We have been able to apprehend those who were laundering money for cyber-criminals, not merely the account holders. This shows how organised and international these networks have become,” she said.