After Jharkhand, Bihar makes it to online scam notoriety map as Mumbai police stumble on an entire gaon that has been specialising in KYC update fraud
The accused in the custody of the Kalachowkie police team in Bihar
The phishing gang of Jamtara has now hired an entire village in Bihar and has outsourced their online cheating scam to them. The gang has hired everyone from Parvalpur Pada in Sonsa Rahui village located in Nalanda district of Bihar for the job. The villagers receive Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 per successful online cheating transaction as commission. They only have to share spam links with people to gain access to their mobile phones. The Kalachowkie police managed to trace two accused from this village in Bihar who sent links to people and withdrew money for the Jamtara gang.
The arrested accused is Amit Kumar Dayanand Malakar, 24, a resident of Parvalpur Pada. Kalachowki police have also issued a notice to another accused, Ranidevi Rakesh Paswan, 27, who is also a resident of the same village and involved in multiple online crimes. According to police officials, around 5,000 people live in Sonsa Rahui village, and most of them are involved in this crime, as per the Kalachowki police. A police officer said, “The Jamtara gang, who are masters in online cheating, have started hiring villagers to provide them with basic training to send links to people and earn commissions for successful links.”
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Scammers instruct victims to click on shared links to update KYC. Representation pic
How gang operates online cheating: Fraudsters randomly approach people and ask them to update the KYC of specific banks. They instruct the victims to click on shared links to update the KYC. Once the victims click on the links, the scammers gain access to their phones. The Jamtara gang then uses screen mirroring to generate OTPs and withdraw money from the connected bank accounts of the victims. The villagers are aware that the links they share are for cheating. If any links are successful, the villagers destroy the SIM card and use a new one to send more links.
How the incident came to light: The incident occurred on December 29, 2023, when 24-year-old Tanisha Bharat Chauhan, a resident of Chinchpokli, lost around Rs 3 lakh in a KYC update fraud case. A police officer said, “In this incident, an unknown fraudster from the Jamtara gang called the victim Chauhan and claimed to be calling from Axis Bank to update KYC, requiring immediate action. The accused Malakar was instructed by the Jamtara gang to send the link to Chauhan. The fraudsters managed to mirror the phone screen and withdrew around R3,12,600 from Chauhan’s bank account.”
The victim immediately informed the Kalachowki police about the incident and filed an FIR. With the help of cyber police and bank officials, the police managed to freeze some accounts. During the investigation, police discovered that the links were being shared from the Parvalpur Pada. Under the guidance of DCP Prashant Kadam, ACP Kalpana Gadekar, and Senior Inspector Sanjay Mohite, a team including PI Nandkishor Jadhav, PSI Rajendra Chavan, PSI Shital Mane (Cyber officer), and constables Chandrashekhar Parab, Subhash Rasve, and Nikam was formed.
On a Thursday morning, the team reached the Parvalpur Pada area and traced two accused involved in the matter. When the police arrived in the village, most of the villagers had already escaped. A police officer said, “The accused revealed that he and other villagers were hired by the Jamtara gang to send links to people. The accused also admitted to knowing that these links are spam.” The Kalachowki police arrested the accused under sections IPC 420, 466, 468, 471, 34, and various sections of the IT Act.
Rs 1K-Rs 2K
Commission each villager makes per cheating transaction
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