Cybercriminals dupe Delhi woman of Rs 3 lakh with fake part-time job, 3 arrested

Three men were arrested for allegedly duping a woman of over Rs 3 lakh on the pretext of offering high returns through online part-time tasks, police said on Saturday.

The accused, Kuldeep Kushwaha (22) and Kuldeep Singh (23), were arrested from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, while Rahul Chaudhary (21) was arrested from Jaipur, Rajasthan. The gang's alleged kingpin, Arvind, a resident of Narnaul, Haryana, who reportedly received training in cybercrime in Malaysia, remains absconding, police said.

The victim, a resident of Burari in North Delhi, had received a message offering a lucrative part-time job. She was added to a group after she responded, where she was required to rate restaurants, hotels and companies for monetary rewards.

''She was later persuaded to take up prepaid tasks that required her to transfer money first and earn profits later. In this process, she transferred Rs 2,96,300 to multiple UPI IDs and bank accounts provided by the fraudsters,'' Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said.

On April 21, based on her complaint, a case under Section 318(4) (cheating) of the BNS was registered.

During investigation, police conducted raids in Agra and Jaipur, leading to the arrest of the three accused, officials said.

The first arrest was made on October 15, when police apprehended Kuldeep Kushwaha from Agra, where some of the money was found in his account.

During interrogation, Kushwaha revealed that he had sold his bank account to co-accused Kuldeep Singh for Rs 4,000.

Singh further sold the account details to Rahul Chaudhary of Jaipur, who used them for fraudulent transactions.

Chaudhary later told police that he was working for the gang's alleged kingpin, identified as Arvind, a resident of Narnaul, Haryana, who remains absconding.

''Rahul received a four per cent commission for every transaction, out of which he paid two per cent to Kuldeep Singh. The three had studied together during their graduation in Agra,'' Banthia said.

''Arvind had received cybercrime training from Malaysia and has been running similar scams for the past few years,'' Banthia added.

Police recovered three mobile phones with SIM cards, two cheque books, account-opening kits, a PAN card, and chat records revealing their involvement in selling and operating fraudulent bank accounts, he said.

Further investigation is underway to trace the kingpin and identify more victims, police added.