Uttarakhand Police arrested two cyber criminals involved in international fraud using fake business accounts and cryptocurrency transactions. The accused operated via Telegram, earning commissions by converting illicit funds into Indian currency.

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police claimed to have busted a gang of international cybercriminals by arresting two of its members, including a trainer, who is a tenth pass out, officials said.

The Special Task Force (STF) also found huge funds in the shape of cryptocurrency in the mobile phones of the accused. The accused Harjinder Singh and Sandeep Singh would provide fake business accounts to other cybercriminals to transact money and exchange funds with international gangs in cryptocurrencies.

This comes weeks after the central government brought 540 Indians back from Myanmar, who were trafficked by a Chinese network of cyber criminals on the pretext of jobs in Thailand. At least 22 of the victims were from Uttarakhand Police, which prompted the state government police to form an STF under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Navneet Bhullar.

Uttarakhand Police Following the joint probe with CBI and the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), two persons, Harjinder Singh and Sandeep Singh, were arrested near Zila Panchayat Chungi on Thanon Road ahead of Maharana Pratap Chowk under the Raipur Police Station area.

The STF team recovered one laptop, seven mobile handsets, one passport, two chequebooks, three debit cards, two PAN cards, one passbook, one stamp seal and four SBI bank forms stamped in the name of some firm from the possession of the accused.

According to officials, Sandeep and Harjinder, both friends, would use Telegram to connect with criminals and open fake bank accounts under various firm names for cybercriminals to use for illegal transactions globally.

Later, they would receive payments in cryptocurrency (USDT), take a 1% fee per transaction and convert it into Indian currency. “Over the past year, the accused made about Rs 1.2 crore in profit, including Rs 25 lakh in March alone,” officials added.