Two men have been arrested for allegedly facilitating a cyber fraud in which people, particularly residents of Punjab, were cheated on the pretext of supplying health supplements and medicines through a fake website, police said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Hiten Kumar, 22, a resident of Delhi’s Greater Kailash, and Ayush Arya, 22, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Indirapuram, allegedly arranged bank accounts to receive and transfer money collected from victims in exchange for a 10 per cent commission, police said. The case came to light after Dharamvir Singh, a resident of Amritsar, in his complaint alleged that he was cheated of over ₹ 83,000 while attempting to purchase health supplements and medicines through a website. The complainant made multiple online payments between September 27 and September 30, but the promised products were never delivered, they said. Acting on his complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, the police registered an FIR at the Cyber Police Station in East District on October 21 under relevant sections of the BNS. During the investigation, police analysed bank account details, KYC documents and financial transactions and traced ₹ 2,66,437 allegedly linked to the fraud to two bank accounts. Police arrested Arya last week, and during interrogation, he allegedly disclosed that he had shared his bank account credentials, along with those of the woman, with his cousin Hiten Kumar in return for a 10 per cent commission. The police arrested Kumar on October 21.
Investigators initially traced a bank account maintained in Arya’s name. The woman associated with the second bank account was also examined during the investigation.
The money was subsequently withdrawn through ATMs, they said. Further examination of the financial trail led them to another account associated with a woman known to him, police said. The cheated money deposited in the accounts was allegedly withdrawn from ATMs and handed over to Kumar after deducting the agreed commission, they said. He allegedly disclosed his association with another person who was operating the website and handling the online sale of health supplements and medicines, they said. The alleged website operator lured customers into making online payments, but products were never delivered, police said, adding that the identity and role of the person operating the website are being investigated.
