Kanpur ₹5,600 Crore Cyber Fraud: Police Arrest Third Accused

Kanpur police have arrested Mohammad Arif, the third person held in a cyber fraud network they say moved about ₹5,600 crore. Amar Ujala reports he was picked up on 12 November at Chakarpur Mandi, where he was working as a porter, and that preliminary checks found about ₹49 crore in transactions through three bank accounts in his name.

Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal announced the arrest.

What police say the network did

No report gives a figure for what victims actually lost. When the first two arrests were announced in September, police described the ₹5,600 crore as an estimate of financial transactions, and The Pioneer was told the figures are being verified.

In September the commissioner told ETV Bharat that victims were phoned and promised high returns, and that the racket ran on online gaming, investment fraud, hawala and fake input tax credit claims. Amar Ujala's latest report adds "digital arrest" threats and a reach of about 2,000 people in 18 states. It says police traced the money through firms registered as slaughterhouses and scrap traders.

Arif's part, as police tell it

He did tailoring work in Dubai for about six years and came back to Kanpur a year ago, Amar Ujala says, and a nephew introduced him to the alleged leader. ETV Bharat reports he also took a bank loan of about ₹1.25 crore on forged papers, and that his accounts drew four complaints on the national cybercrime reporting portal.

The reports don't name the charges.

Earlier arrests

The alleged ringleader, a Beconganj man surnamed Waris, and a second accused, Salman, were arrested in September, when police seized ₹65.26 lakh in cash, phones and bank documents. Arif was one of five men police said they were still looking for at the time. Amar Ujala says the search for the rest continues.