Surat, Oct 2 — The Surat Cyber Crime Cell has arrested a 28-year-old man allegedly involved in providing a bank account used in two online investment fraud cases, with police finding transactions worth Rs 2.72 crore through the account and 37 complaints linked to it across different states.
The accused, identified as Ashwin Gohil, a resident of Vav in Bhavnagar district, was arrested after a technical investigation into two cases registered by the Surat Cyber Crime Police Station, the police said on Friday.
According to police, the fraudsters allegedly approached the complainants' son through WhatsApp groups and lured him with returns of up to 390 per cent on investments in the share market and a programme named “Brp Fund 100 Day Wealth Leap Program”.
In the first case, the accused allegedly used a WhatsApp group named “Brp Fund104 - Grow Together” and directed the victim to a fake website, brp5.com.
Police said the website displayed fabricated profits, and the victim was induced to transfer Rs 5.99 lakh to various bank accounts.
In the second case, a WhatsApp group named “BRP Fund-Grow Together-008” was allegedly used to gain the victim's trust before directing him to another fake website, app.toloyyi.com. Police said Rs 19.60 lakh was transferred to different bank accounts in this case.
Separate cases were registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Sections 318(4), 336(2), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2) and 3(5), as well as Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008.
Police said Gohil allegedly received an ICICI Bank current account from previously arrested accused Satyajit Manjariya in return for commission.
Gohil subsequently passed the account to Pankajkumar Ramani for Rs 3,000, while Ramani allegedly handed it to another accused, Vivek Beldiya, for Rs 5,000.
Beldiya allegedly provided the account to the absconding accused for Rs 26,000 for use in cyber fraud.
According to the police, transactions totalling Rs 2,72,97,899.50 were carried out through the ICICI Bank current account.
"A check of the account on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) also revealed 37 complaints from different states, involving alleged fraud of Rs 7,01,47,845," police said.
The three previously arrested accused were identified as Satyajit Manjariya, 28, of Ahmedabad and originally from Amreli; Pankajkumar Ramani, 39, of Surat and originally from Rajkot district; and Vivek Beldiya, 30, of Surat and originally from Bhavnagar district.
The Cyber Crime Cell appealed to people not to hand over their bank accounts to others for commissions, warning that such accounts could be used for cyber fraud and that account holders could face legal action for transactions conducted through them.