New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Cyber Police Station of Delhi’s South-West district has busted a major nexus involved in fake loan app fraud under Operation Cyhawk 4.0, arresting two more accused and uncovering links to virtual numbers originating from Pakistan and Bangladesh, officials said on Friday.

According to police, the latest arrests take the total number of accused held in the case to six. The two newly arrested individuals have been identified as Karan Kumar (24) and Shami Ahmad (27), both residents of Kapashera. Two mobile phones containing incriminating WhatsApp chats were recovered from their possession.

The case pertains to an online financial fraud scheme in which unsuspecting victims were lured through fake loan applications offering unsecured loans. After disbursal, the accused allegedly extorted money by threatening to circulate morphed images of the victims.

Police said the investigation began after a mule bank account in Kapashera, registered in the name of a 23-year-old local resident, was flagged during analysis of suspicious transactions. “The associated complaints were found to be related to fake loan app scams, following which a case was registered and an investigation launched,” an official said.

Based on leads from earlier arrests, investigators tracked additional accounts linked to the fraud. A Bank of India account in the name of Karan Kumar was found to be involved in multiple complaints, prompting further investigation and leading to the arrests.

During interrogation, Karan Kumar allegedly admitted that he had provided his bank account on a commission basis to co-accused Shami Ahmad, who in turn passed it on to another person for use in cyber fraud activities.

Police revealed that the accused were in touch with other members of the syndicate using virtual numbers from Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Multiple incriminating WhatsApp chats were recovered regarding operation of fake loan apps, management of mule accounts and receipt of cheated money,” the police said.

Investigators are now probing whether these virtual numbers were operated by handlers based abroad or by India-based criminals masking their identity.

Explaining the modus operandi, officials said once a victim downloaded the fake loan app, access to their phone data was obtained by the fraudsters. Loans were issued with hidden terms, and victims were later threatened using manipulated images. The cheated money was routed through mule accounts using UPI and later converted into cryptocurrency such as USDT to conceal the trail.

Both accused are reported to be Rapido drivers and were allegedly drawn into the racket through local contacts offering easy money in exchange for bank account access.

Further investigation is underway to identify other members of the network and trace the money trail, police added.

–IANS

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