Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police’s Cyber Crime & Economic Offences wing on Sunday arrested a man from West Bengal for allegedly cheating a resident of Bhubaneswar of over Rs 50 lakh through a sophisticated online investment scam promising unusually high returns.
The accused has been identified as Arabinda Paul (46). He was apprehended from his native place at Baikunthpur under Mongra police limits in Hooghly district. He has been booked under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which pertain to cheating and related offences.
According to police, Bhagirathi Mohanta, a resident Tamando, received an invitation via WhatsApp from the mobile number 7718893736 to join a group named “SMC SIT III WII Group” on October 8, 2024, advertising lucrative investment opportunities with high returns. A person in the group, Kriti Gupta, identified herself as the assistant & group coordinator and advised him to open a trading account with SMC Capital Customer Care Unit, a fabricated entity mimicking the legitimate firm. The fraudsters then directed him to transfer money to multiple bank accounts. Mohanta deposited a total of Rs 50,16,000 into two specified accounts.
When the high returns never came and withdrawals were blocked or met with extra demands, the victim realised that he had been defrauded.
Police investigations revealed that the accounts did not belong to any legitimate company but were controlled by cyber fraudsters who handled large daily transactions. The modus operandi involved posing as coordinators of investment groups on WhatsApp, luring victims with promises of exceptional profits, and then instructing transfers to mule accounts.
A keypad mobile phone handset was seized from the accused. Paul was a primary beneficiary in the scam and 17 additional cases had been pending against him across India, police added.
