Uttarakhand Police busts Rs. 350 crore scam that duped lakhs
What's the story
Uttarakhand Police has busted an online scam with foreign links, in which five lakh people from across the country lost a combined Rs. 350 crore, officials said on Thursday, adding a man was arrested from Noida in connection with it. The accused identified as Pawan Kumar Pandey was arrested from Noida's Sector 99 on Monday.
Fraud
Fraudsters duped people through an app called 'Power Bank'
"Police has sought the help of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for further investigation in the case," Director General of Police Ashok Kumar said. The fraudsters duped people using an online app called, Power Bank, which was available on Google Play Store till May 12, he said, adding, it offered lucrative returns on investment through different schemes.
Scamsters
Syndicate was run by a group of scamsters from China
"The money deposited in different schemes, using the app, was routed to foreign countries through cryptocurrency," the DGP said. The syndicate was run by a group of scamsters from China, according to a preliminary inquiry. The Special Task Force (STF) recovered 19 laptops, five mobile phones and 592 SIM cards from Pandey's possession who was arrested on Monday.
Complaints
The app later vanished from Google Play Store
"Police had received 25 complaints of fraud against the app from different parts of Uttarakhand," said Ajay Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (STF), who led the probe into the case. "The investigation process started after two persons from Haridwar district complained that the online app, through which they invested more than Rs. 1.5 lakh, was now not available on Google Play Store," said Singh.