BENGALURU: The cyber wing sleuths of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) reportedly arrested a gang of five criminals from Bengaluru and Dubai, and recovered cash worth around Rs 1.7 crores, foreign currency and a high end car. The accused extorted around Rs 2.2 crores from a 75-year-old estate owner using the Fedex scam route. The accused cheated the victim by making calls from Dubai.
Ramesh (name changed) hailing from Siddapura in Kodagu, in his complaint stated that he received a call from a person claiming to be an employee of FedEX. The accused threatened Ramesh of smuggling 200 grams of MDMA, and ‘transferred’ the call to his associates who claimed to be police officers.
The accused asked the complainant to transfer money to the accounts sent by them in order to solve the case. Believing the callers, the septuagenarian transferred Rs 2.21 crores between May 11 and May 28, 2024. The victim sent the money through RTGS, in two transactions. When the accused called repeatedly demanding more money, the victim reported the matter to the police.
The victim registered a case with Kodagu CEN police, which was later transferred to CID for further investigations. Investigations into the case revealed that the money had been transferred to around 26 bank accounts in several North Indian states and Dubai. The money found in these accounts have been freezed.
The accused are identified as Mohammed Shakib, Mohammed Ayaan, Ahasaan Hansari, Saloman Raja, all from Bengaluru and Yusuf Set, from Dubai. The CID officials have recovered Rs 1.7 crores. The CID officials suspect that the accused are part of a professional gang. As the accused had used the accounts of Indian banks in the scam, it was easy to trace them.
