The Delhi Police busted a cyber gang operating in Jharkhand this week by arresting a man who allegedly created fake websites of renowned hospitals in Delhi-NCR and cheated hundreds of people by offering fraudulent appointment bookings and consultations. The police said the matter came to light after an additional public prosecutor from Tis Hazari Courts was cheated of nearly Rs 1 lakh.
The official reported the crime in April saying that while looking for hospitals on Google for his wife, he found a website of Yashoda Hospital, Ghaziabad, and thought it was genuine. The police said that he contacted the accused on the mobile number and they lured him to download an app to register for the appointment.
“He was asked to pay Rs 10 to confirm the booking but he later realised the gang deducted Rs 99,909 from his account,” said the police. A team led by Station House Officer Pawan Tomar and other officers worked on the case for months. The police conducted a detailed analysis of call detail records and transactions and found that the accused were operating from Giridih and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
“The gang was operating from several states. The cheated money was withdrawn from various ATMs in Kolkata. The accounts in connection with the transactions were registered at a fake address in Howrah, Kolkata,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) S S Kalsi said.
Several raids were conducted in Howrah but the accused shifted to Jharkhand, the police said. They sent teams to Hazaribagh to arrest the gang members.
“One of the accused, Shahid Ansari, 39, was caught after several raids. We found that the accused had paid ads on Google so their website would come up on Google search. While the accused would make calls from Dhanbad, fake SIMs were provided by associates from Hazaribagh, Orissa and West Bengal. The money was withdrawn from Kolkata,” the DCP added.
During the interrogation, Ansari allegedly revealed that he provided bank accounts for the gang. He worked as a road-mower driver but lost his job during the Covid-induced lockdown, said the police, adding that he was in debt and met a group of people who lured him to join the gang and earn 20 per cent commission on cheated money. “He would approach people who lived in small villages and provide their details for bank accounts,” the police said.