Rs 93.58-lakh investment fraud racket busted; 3 arrested in Bengaluru

Three men have been arrested in connection with an investment fraud racket that police said procured mule bank accounts and helped move cyber fraud proceeds through APK-based applications.

The accused have been identified as Amit Mishra from East Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, and Bengaluru residents Tausif Ahmed and Parashuram Sadanand Kannannavar alias Pavan Kumar.

Police said the arrests followed an investigation into a complaint by a Bengaluru resident, who alleged he was lured into a fake trading investment scheme through a WhatsApp group and was made to invest Rs 93.58 lakh.

Investigators later found that the accused had allegedly arranged hundreds of mule bank accounts and used multiple APK files to transfer cyber fraud money.

According to police, the complainant filed his complaint on April 29. He alleged that he received a link on WhatsApp and, after clicking on it, was added by unknown persons to a group called "EL Investment Strategies Discussion".

Messages about investment in trading were posted in the group every day between 7 pm and 8:30 pm, police said. The complainant was then asked to open a demat account and initially invested Rs 50,000.

The accused later gave him details of various bank accounts and persuaded him to invest a total of Rs 93.58 lakh in instalments. However, they neither gave him any returns nor refunded the money, he alleged.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case under relevant sections of the IT Act and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to cheating.

During the investigation, the accused were arrested at a hotel in Kasavanahalli in Bengaluru on the basis of technical information, police said.

In a statement, police said the investigation showed that the accused procured current, corporate and trust bank accounts, net banking credentials and linked SIM cards from different people by offering them commissions.

The account holders were accommodated in hotels, where an application called ZNPAY and SMS-forwarding malicious APKs were installed on their devices.

Police said banking OTPs and SMS messages received on the linked SIM cards were then forwarded to cyber fraudsters, allowing them to operate the bank accounts remotely and transfer cyber fraud proceeds.

Police said the accused, bank account suppliers and other intermediaries allegedly received commissions in return.

After examining six mobile phones seized from the accused, police found that they had procured more than 507 mule bank accounts from various persons. Further examination also showed that they had used more than 51 APK files to transfer cyber fraud money, police said.

Investigators also found that cyber fraud cases had been registered against these bank accounts in Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and several other states.

According to the statements of the accused, around Rs 13 lakh of cyber fraud proceeds were transferred through one bank account, while more than Rs 38 lakh was transferred through another, police said.

"The investigation revealed that the accused exchanged bank account details required for transferring cyber fraud money with intermediaries through WhatsApp and Telegram and shared them with key persons allegedly involved in the network," the police statement said.

Police said the accused used Binance wallets to receive the proceeds of the crime and the Botim app to communicate among themselves.

During the digital investigation, technical details linked to Telegram and WhatsApp accounts used by the accused and other absconding cyber fraudsters were identified, police said.

"Preliminary technical and IP geolocation analysis of the Telegram and WhatsApp IP information indicated network/IP locations associated with Kolkata, Hong Kong and California in the US. Further verification is being carried out using records from the concerned service providers and other technical evidence," the police said in its statement.

Police said the available technical information suggested the network may not be confined to India and could also be using foreign IP or network infrastructure.

Based on information obtained from WhatsApp, Telegram and email, efforts are on to identify the intermediaries who supplied the mule bank accounts to the accused and other key persons involved in the operation, police said.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 21, 2026 11:41 IST