Jaipur | The Rajasthan Police has busted a statewide cyber fraud racket and arrested 17 people for allegedly duping an accountant of Rs 5.30 crore by impersonating his company's chairman on WhatsApp.
The accused used the display photo and name of the chairman of a mining company to mislead the accountant into transferring funds to multiple bank accounts, police said.
The complainant, Deependra Singh, lodged a complaint on the cyber helpline on April 24, stating that he received messages from a WhatsApp number posing as the company owner, directing him to urgently transfer money to two bank accounts.
Trusting the instructions, he transferred Rs 5.30 crore, which later turned out to be fraud.
DIG Cyber Crime Shantanu Kumar Singh said on Saturday that special teams traced the bank transactions.
The probe revealed that the defrauded amount was routed through multiple accounts and later withdrawn in cash or converted into cryptocurrency and moved through hawala channels, Singh said.
With the help of police teams from Kota Rural, Pali, Jodhpur, Banswara and Barmer, 17 accused were arrested. These include individuals who provided bank accounts, facilitated cash withdrawals, acted as commission agents and handled conversion of money into cryptocurrency, according to police.
Investigators revealed that the accused often met at tea stalls to distribute commissions and avoid suspicion. Those arrested include persons from varied backgrounds such as a law student, salon workers and an auto parts dealer.
Police said the Kota-based accused played a key role in withdrawing the money and converting it into cryptocurrency, while those in Banswara and Pali arranged bank accounts and transferred funds.
In Jodhpur, the accused were involved in routing money and converting it into digital assets, while a Barmer-based accused provided his bank account for commission.
Officials said gang members earned commissions ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 50,000 per account. Some withdrew cash and handed it over to the fraudsters, while others converted the money into USDT to conceal the transactions.
