Mumbai: Four men, who allegedly supplied mule bank accounts, fake SIM cards and one-time passwords (OTPs) to Chinese cyber fraudsters for a 3% commission, were recently arrested after keeping Rs 53 lakh from Rs 1.89 crore siphoned from a 68-year-old Andheri resident in an August share-investment fraud.West Cyber police traced the four after they transferred the Rs 53 lakh from a mule business current account, opened in the name of Vitthal Fruits, to their personal accounts.Those arrested were identified as alleged mastermind Ramesh Lavangare (49), a college dropout from Kamothe; Vitthal Waghmode (36), a school dropout from Pune’s Indapur; and Nanasaheb Parkhe (33) and Amol Kumbhar (39), both graduates from Panvel.Police said the victim was contacted on WhatsApp and induced to invest through NAM AMC HNW share market trading on promises of good returns. He deposited Rs 1.89 crore into several bank accounts in August. The fraud emerged when he tried to withdraw the money. The scammers demanded further payment to release the amount and profits displayed in a fake share-trading account created in his name.DCP (Cyber) Bajrang Bansode said Waghmode provided documents, on Lavangare’s instructions and with Parkhe’s assistance, to open a current account in a nationalised bank that was supplied to cybercriminals.Senior inspector Sandeep Patil said the four had joined the ‘786-Wisdom Launch Club’ Telegram group and opened bank accounts as instructed. Parkhe, a vegetable supplier at APMC market, held the first-layer beneficiary account. Kumbhar, a former bank accountant who also ran a milk shop, transferred the money to his account before distributing it.The case was solved after the police team — comprising senior inspector Sandeep Patil, assistant inspector Shankar Patil, sub-inspector Shivaji Sawale and cyber officers — noticed that the money transferred to Lavangare and three others equally after they broke the mobile SIM and deactivated themselves from the Telegram group in which they were selling the banking details to the scammers. “Lavangare decided to dupe the Chinese scammers and keep the money with them which led to their arrest,” said Sawale.
