Delhi University student ‘duped’ of Rs 6,500, probe leads police to Rs 30-crore cyber fraud

In June, Fatima, a second-year student at Delhi University’s Ramjas College, was allegedly scrolling on Instagram when she came across an advertisement of Kavya Kurti, an apparel firm selling kurtas for women. She clicked on it and took her pick.

“When she was ready to order, she was redirected to WhatsApp. She placed an order worth ₹799 and paid ₹400 in advance through a QR code,” said a police officer.

What Fatima was allegedly unaware of was that the firm was fake, and the linked account was part of a Rs 30 crore cyber fraud, according to police.

After placing the order, as per the investigators, Fatima got a call with demands for more payment — a trap usually followed by cyber fraudsters. “On contacting the seller, she was asked to pay ₹1,150 as a refundable charge for generating the code, followed by further payments of ₹2,000, ₹2,650 and ₹650 on similar pretexts. Despite receiving the payments, the alleged seller neither delivered the parcel nor refunded the amount,” said DCP (North) Niharika Bhatt.

After Fatima realised that she was duped of Rs 6,500, she lodged a complaint with the Cyber Police, said officers. An investigation was taken up, led by ACP Vishesh Dhatterwal and Additional (DCP) Ram Dulesh Meena.

Police tracked the payment trail, which led them to an alleged shell corporation.

“The cheated amount was traced through Pine Labs Merchant to a Canara Bank account of Kizentech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Greater Noida linked to Aditya Mishra and Udit Pratap Singh Bhadauriya,” said a police officer.

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Investigators also tracked the online orders made through the suspected Whatsapp number on various apps, and found links to an address in Greater Noida. This premises was raided, and six men — Aditya Mishra, Ayush Verma, Abhishek Pal, Himanshu Rana, Rahul Kumar and Gaurav Pandey —were nabbed.

“Raids at rented premises in Greater Noida uncovered three suspected firms—Kizentech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Executive Edge and Nexcore. Several mobile phones, SIM cards, banking documents and electronic devices were recovered,” said DCP Bhatt.

All six accused, police said, were well-educated tech-savvy individuals. With a BBA degree, Pandey was allegedly the mastermind.

He paid others in the syndicate Rs. 25,000 each, and told them the know-how of setting up companies and opening accounts.

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“Aditya Mishra disclosed that he, along with Udit Pratap Singh Bhadauriya, Ayush Verma and Abhishek Pal, had established fake firms and opened current bank accounts. They handed the details of the accounts to Himanshu Rana and Rahul Kumar against a monthly payment of ₹25,000,” said DCP Bhatt.

Further leads resulted in the arrest of Udit Pratap Singh Bhadauriya from Kanpur on October 10, taking the total to seven arrests.

Rana and Rahul would give the account documents, and kits to Pandey, who would then give it to Maxwell and Solitaire for a commission. These accounts were allegedly used to receive and route money obtained through cyber frauds.

Police then got to know that it wasn’t just one, but three shell companies operated by the group, already siphoned Rs. 30 crore worth of cyber proceeds.