Chips seller helps cyber criminals, gets hotel holiday as 'pay'
Gurugram, June 28 -- A gang of cyber fraudsters took a 27-year-old chips seller on a six-day all-expenses-paid trip to Chandigarh, gave him Rs.50,000 in cash, and used his bank account as a mule to route Rs.1.93 crore siphoned from victims across multiple cities, including Gurugram, police said on Friday.
The seller, identified as Sumit Kumar from Narnaul, was arrested on Tuesday during the investigation of an investment fraud case lodged by a Gurugram-based telecom engineer.
Police said Sumit's bank account was used to launder funds between May 28 and June 3, during which time the fraudsters kept him entertained at a Chandigarh hotel.
The suspect had made Sumit stay at Hotel Greenland in Sector 125, Chandigarh, which has a room rent of up to Rs.5,000 per day. Police said it was for the first time that Sumit was staying in a hotel and out of excitement, he didn't even care to check the hotel name.
He ordered the costliest food, desserts and alcoholic beverages listed on the hotel menu every day during his stay.
Investigators said that Rs.21.33 lakh out of the Rs.1.93 crore was part of a Rs.70.26 lakh sum stolen from a 52-year-old telecom engineer living in Sector 71. The victim, an employee of a Finnish communication device company, was duped between April 22 and June 2 through an investment scam. He registered an FIR at the Cybercrime police station (south) on June 9.
Kumar was on two-day police remand for interrogation till Friday during which he disclosed details of the suspects.
"He was promised good food, liquor and a nice hotel, all expenses were taken care of. Once they reached Chandigarh on May 28, Mohit took possession of Sumit's account credentials and phone. Over the next six days, crores were routed through his account, which Mohit and his gang remitted to other accounts," said Sandeep Kumar, Gurugram police PRO.
Sumit was kept largely uninvolved in the details of the scam....
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