New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) In a major crackdown on cybercrime, the Delhi Police have busted a work-from-home job fraud syndicate and arrested four individuals accused of duping a man of Rs 17.49 lakh through a sophisticated online scam involving cryptocurrency.

The Cyber Police Station of South West Delhi busted the fraud syndicate after the victim, a Vasant Kunj resident, filed a complaint.

According to the South West District Police, the fraudsters lured unsuspecting victims through Telegram by offering seemingly legitimate part-time online jobs, such as reviewing websites for small payments.

“After a few initial tasks, the victim was asked to perform a prepaid task involving the sale and purchase of Bitcoin. Believing he would earn a high return, the victim kept depositing more money on the pretext of redeeming his earnings,” the police said in an official statement.

The complainant filed an online report on May 27, stating that he was first contacted by the fraudsters on May 23. What began as a simple task for Rs 50 per review escalated into a larger investment scheme.

The victim was manipulated into depositing increasingly larger amounts of money with the false promise of unlocking or redeeming earnings. Eventually, he was cheated out of Rs 17.49 lakh.

Following a preliminary inquiry, a case was registered and a special investigation team led by Sub-Inspector Opendar and supervised by ACP Vijay Kumar tracked the flow of funds and used technical surveillance to uncover the fraud network.

Analysis of the money trail revealed that Rs 5 lakh had been transferred from the victim’s account to one held in Kotak Mahindra Bank under the name of one of the accused. CCTV footage confirmed the presence of the accused and his associates during the withdrawal.

The investigation led the team to multiple locations across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, including Lucknow, Agra, Bhopal, and Shivpuri.

After coordinated raids, four suspects were apprehended. The arrested individuals were allegedly responsible for operating mule accounts, transferring funds through multiple layers, and ultimately converting the proceeds into cryptocurrency, specifically USDT, to evade detection by banks and law enforcement agencies.

Police recovered four smartphones and SIM cards used to carry out the fraud. Authorities stated that the gang used digital platforms and layered money laundering techniques to make tracing difficult.

Further investigation is underway to trace additional members of the syndicate and identify other potential victims.

–IANS

rs/dpb