
KOCHI: Police said that the three people arrested in Kochi in Operation Cy-Hunt were students. The arrested are Abhishek Viju (21) from Elur, Hafiz ES (21) from Vengola, Perumbavoor, and Altaf KF (21) from Edathala Nochima.
Two of them are studying in college and one in a polytechnic college. It is Hafiz who collects the account details on the instructions of a Perumbavoor native. Up to Rs. 25 lakhs have been deposited into the accounts daily through him. Kochi City Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladitya said that an investigation has been launched focusing on the Perumbavoor native. The students received a huge amount as commission every time the fraudulent money, which was deposited into the accounts, was withdrawn through an ATM and handed over to the fraud gang.
Hafiz and Altaf were caught by the police while withdrawing the money. It has also been reported that many of them have bought luxury vehicles and built houses. It has been found that the accused used even the bank accounts of their friends for fraud. More than 300 accounts used for fraud have been identified in Kochi alone.
A cyber gang had recently defrauded Shravan, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, of Rs 80,000. All the accounts through which this money passed were monitored after the complaint in this case was registered at the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The arrest of the three was expedited after Abhishek withdrew this money. Rs 6.5 lakh and mobile phones were seized from Hafiz.
Awareness will be conducted focusing on schools since the culprits are students.
Putta Vimaladitya,
Commissioner, Kochi City Police