A group of three people was arrested in Delhi for alleged involvement in extortion schemes related to short-term loans with a China-based gang, they had build up these loans under the pretence of helping them.
The three accused have been identified as Ravi Kumar Pankaj (28), Javed Raza Ansari (30) and Vikas Yadav (19), according to DCP (outer Delhi) Sameer Sharma. Further, DCP Sharma said, “On June 22, a woman lodged a complaint, alleging she downloaded an app to take a short-term loan. She paid the amount within the stipulated time, but got calls from recovery agents who used abusive language and threatened her.”
While the investigation was underway, bank transactions linked with the suspected numbers were analyzed. “It was found that the fraudsters downloaded documents of a company and used those to open an online settlement account on a payment gateway and aggregator. It was linked to Pankaj’s bank account, in which money was credited by the complainant. All transactions of the account were checked, and it was found that in a single day, a transaction of Rs19.43 crore was made and it was further transferred to other entities,” DCP Sharma added.
Using a team under the direction of SHO Sandeep Panwar, Pankaj was captured in Rajasthan on July 4. He revealed that he had sold his five bank accounts to a guy, who then sold them to Ansari, for Rs15,000 each. DCP Sharma reported that Ansari was detained on Monday.
Yadav, who claimed to have sold Ansari 7 bank accounts, was in contact with the latter as well. Many short-term loan apps run by Chinese companies have been identified to provide funds quickly for 7 days. Prior to that, they had access to people’s private information. Call centres in other nations threaten to release their data if money is not paid, Sharma added. “The kingpin is operating from Hong Kong. Efforts are on to track the IP addresses and nab him,” stated police officials.
