Ranchi, Sep 26 (IANS) Jharkhand’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) has unearthed a massive online fraud in which unsuspecting investors across the country were duped of crores of rupees through a fake trading app named “Cantillon”, officials said.

Acting on a complaint, the CID’s Cyber Crime Cell arrested a 19-year-old youth, identified as Yashvardhan Kumar, from Deoghar city of Jharkhand on Friday.

Originally from Gaya ji in Bihar, he had been living in Deoghar and running the racket for quite some time.

According to police, Kumar lured victims through WhatsApp chats and persuaded them to invest in Cantillon with promises of lucrative returns. Once the money was transferred, the victims were shown fake profits on the app before losing access to their funds.

The racket first came to light after a victim filed a complaint on August 23, alleging he had been cheated of Rs 44 lakh.

The CID, during its technical probe, traced the fraud to Yashvardhan Kumar. During the arrest, police recovered a mobile phone, two SIM cards, incriminating chats, and bank account details.

The CID said the fraud is widespread, with the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs registering 46 complaints against the accused.

Complaints have come in from 18 states and Union Territories, including Telangana (four), Tamil Nadu (four), Karnataka (eight), Gujarat (six), Maharashtra (four), Uttar Pradesh (five), Andhra Pradesh (two), Bihar (two), and others.

The CID officials believe Kumar is only a small part of a larger network. “The arrested youth appears to be a link in a bigger chain. Efforts are on to identify and nab the masterminds behind this organised cybercrime syndicate,” a CID officer said.

The police have launched a wider probe to trace money trails and identify other members of the gang.

On Friday, a cyber crook from Uttar Pradesh, who duped thousands of investors by promising high returns from forex trading on digital platforms, was sent to nine days’ custody of the Enforcement Directorate, Chandigarh zone, for questioning by a Special PMLA court, an official said.

Navab Hassan was arrested by the ED on Thursday under PMLA, 2002, for his role in misleading innocent investors and mobilising public deposits to launder Proceeds of Crime (POC) through the QFX/ YFX/ BotBro/ BotAlpha/ Crossaplha/ Minecrypto scam, the official said.

–IANS

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