A report by India Times has revealed that a police investigation into the arrest of a Nigerian cyber fraud gang uncovered that the members purchased hundreds of bank accounts across various states in India.
According to the police, the gang used these accounts to transfer and siphon money obtained through fraudulent activities targeting unsuspecting victims.
“We found that the gang had details of over 500 bank accounts. They said that they purchased the accounts from other gangs by paying money. These accounts were opened with either genuine or bogus documents.” Said a cybercrime official.
Police added that huge sums of money were transferred from one account to another by these cybercooks. Investigators are now trying to track down the gangs that sold the bank account details to the Nigerian gang.
Police had arrested Lezhu John, Gibril Mohammed, and Egboola Ekena on Friday.
They were tracked down on the basis of bank transactions and intelligence and arrested in Delhi.
“Their visa expired, but still they chose to stay in India. All three used to commit crime frauds to earn quick money,” said M M Rajput, ACP (Cybercrime).
Indian police reported discovering hundreds of photos of men and women on the mobile phones of the suspects.
These images were used to create fake social media accounts to deceive and attract victims.
The operation was uncovered after a young woman lodged a complaint at the Cybercrime police station, stating that she had been defrauded of over Rs 2.62 lakh by the group.