Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 13 Jun: The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested six accused from Nainital district in a cyber fraud, on Friday. These fraudsters were using fake websites and gaming platforms to cheat people and transfer money illegally. The police recovered 6 laptops, 23 mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 9 bank accounts, Wi-Fi devices, barcode scanners, ATM cards, and cheque books from their possession.
According to the STF, this operation was carried out jointly by STF Kumaon Unit and the Cyber Crime Police Station, Kumaon. The gang was running their operations from two rented rooms in a remote under-construction homestay in Basuli Amritpur, Nainital district. The accused were using laptops, mobile phones, fake bank accounts, SIM cards, and barcode scanners for cyber fraud.
The STF said the mastermind of this fraud network is a man named Sachin Mittal, whose full details are still unknown. He connected with Jatin Pandey, the main accused caught on the spot, through Telegram. Sachin Mittal along with another person named Priyanshu Sharma trained the accused to use fake websites like TOOFAN777, TOOFAN247, ALLPANELEXCH.COM, and MY99EXCH.COM. They taught them how to receive money from victims, transfer it to various accounts, and use OTPs from registered mobile numbers to complete transactions.
The accused were identified as Jatin Pandey (21), from Amritpur, Nainital, Kamal Kishore (20), from Mukteshwar, Nainital, Harsh Bora (19), from Kathgodam, Nainital, Kaushal Kishore alias Ashish Thakur (25), from Kannauj, UP, Prem Kumar (20), from Kheri, UP, Karan Kevat (22), from UP.
Police have registered a case under the new Indian Penal Code (BNS 2023) and IT Act. Investigations are ongoing to trace the main operators including Sachin Mittal, Priyanshu Sharma, and Saurabh Tiwari.
