Online fraud gang busted in Rourkela; four arrested

In a major breakthrough, an online fraud gang has been busted in Rourkela, leading to the arrest of four individuals by the police on Sunday. As per reports, a large number of bank accounts, mobile phones, and laptops have also been seized during the operation.

According to police sources, nearly 800 bank accounts are suspected to have been used in the fraud. The gang was reportedly operating not only in Odisha but also across the country and even overseas.

"We got an information from a reliable source that 1,100 accounts are active that are used for online scam all over the world. We also got the information that a gang has been active here that is sealing activated accounts in other states and online scam is taking place from those accounts. From the investigation, we got the most important information that some officials are involved in it," said Rourkela SP.

Also Read: What TRAI’s crackdown on 21 lakh SIMs means for Odisha’s war on cyber fraud networks

"Their emphasis was mainly on youth and the people residing in interior areas. Three among the four arrested are bank employees from Rourkela. They used to take small amount of Rs 8,000-10,1000 for each account activation. They have activated almost 800 accounts in the last eight weeks. Accused was staying here from the start. However, he has huge involvement in the inter-state online scams. Eight to ten ATM cards, some documents, scan copies of more than 1000 Aadhaar cards from smart phones have been seized. Further investigation into the matter is going on and action will be taken accordingly," he added.