Cyber frauds rent Jan Dhan accounts to dupe people in Bihar

PATNA: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts are being sold to cyber criminals in return of Rs5000 per month, an investigation carried out by the cyber cell of Kaimur police has revealed. The cyber criminals are using bank accounts opened under PMJDY to dupe people of their money deposited in different banks across the state.
Kaimur SP Dilnawaz Ahmad said the latest modus operandi was revealed by some members of an interstate gang of cyber frauds arrested from different parts of Jharkhand on Thursday.
The arrested fraudsters — Wasir Ansari, Mosin Ansari, Md Ati-ul Ansari and Nand Lal Tori — all residents of Dhanbad and Jamtara districts in Jharkhand — told the interrogators that the money withdrawn from the victims’ accounts were immediately transferred to the bank accounts opened under PMJDY.
The PMJDY accounts were rented by paying Rs 5000 per month each to the account holders. Even credit cards of some people were rented by the gang members on payment of Rs 8000. Several gangs operating in Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have adopted the modus operandi to carry out their operations.
Kaimur SP said the fraud could be detected after one and a half months of investigation in connection with a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 11 lakh from the State Bank of India account of one Ravish Kumar Pandey, who is the state irrigation department employee posted in Mohania. His bank account is in Bhabhua. “We referred the matter to the technical cell (cyber cell) for detailed investigation,” the SP said over phone
Pandey had lodged a complaint with Bhabhua police station on May 8 this year. Pandey in his FIR stated that he was in Barauni when he tried to withdraw money from the ATM but failed. He searched the bank’s customer care number on Google and dialled a number. The person on the other end asked him to download AnyDesk App. On doing it, he received several SMSs about withdrawing amounts from his bank account.
The investigation revealed that the money was transferred from Pandey’s account in small instalments to 54 Jan Dhan accounts in Jharkhand and subsequently withdrawn through ATM cards or transferring to other accounts. All the bank accounts were under police surveillance and subsequently froze. The names and addresses of the account holders were also verified. The cellphone number Pandey had dialled was traced in Kolkata, which was in a fake name.
While some of the account holders said their documents were taken by ‘bank officials’ on one pretext or the other, others admitted that they had shared their account details with some local youths in return of Rs 5000 per month from them.
Many of the beneficiaries told the Kaimur police that they were poor and needed money. “When the accused approached them, they provided them the bank account details for money,” an investigating officer said.
The modus operandi of the gang is very simple. Fraudsters approach the poor and illiterate for opening Jan Dhan accounts that enable people to receive the government scheme benefits. As per police investigation, thumb impressions taken on plain papers were scanned digitally. Frauds use polymer chemical stamp-making machines to create rubber thumbs to retain cash withdrawal controls. They also use Photoshop to clean up images.
In some cases, villagers also ‘sell’ their accounts to cyber frauds to receive and withdraw money. This ‘cashback’ emboldens criminals to trap more and more people, police probe revealed. Sources said the ‘selling’ of bank accounts in districts like Jamtara and Dumka in Jharkhand is a common practice.
Kaimur SP said two prime accused — Azmal Ansari alias Chhotu Ansari and Minhaz Ansari — were absconding. Police seized sim cards, laptops, CPUs, passbooks and other materials during the raid at their different hideouts in Jharkhand. The four arrested had earlier been to jail on similar charges in Jharkhand.