With the arrest of three accused Mohd. Zahid, Pawan Singh and Ravi Mittal, Anti-Gang Squad (AGS) of Crime Branch have busted a gang of cheats, who were duping people by using Fastag by pretending to provide them services like activation of credit cards, 5G services etc.

The AGS, which was tracing another accused wanted in a murder case, the team of came to the knowledge of a person named Mohd. Zahid, who was staying with the accused wanted in a murder case. Based on the information, a team conducted a raid in Sunview Apartment, Sector-11, Dwarka, Delhi, where accused, Mohd. Zahid, 22 years old, was also found present there.

One laptop, mobile phones, card swipe machine, debit card and seal of Hotel Ranaja Inn and some SIM cards were found in his possession. On questioning, he revealed that he is a part of a syndicate, duping people on pretext of providing them services like activation of credit cards, 5G services recently launched etc. A FIR under IPC r/w 66C & 66D IT Act was registered at PS Crime Branch and further investigation was taken up.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Mohd. Zahid was managing the fake accounts arranged by the kingpin of the gang namely Pawan Singh. They were using Fastags wallets to receive the cheated money and thereafter diverted that amount to the person named Ravi Mittal, who used to withdraw the amount at swipe machines of Petrol and CNG Pumps in Haryana and Chandigarh.

Thereafter Ravi Mittal used to receive cash from these fuel stations and transfer the amount to each of the members of this group involved in this whole exercise of defrauding people after keeping his share. Ravi Mittal used to make Fastag of IDFC Bank by using various vehicle numbers.

Based on available evidence, the trio was arrested in this case. The accused persons were targeting the customers of various banks who were issued credit cards recently and man working under them used to call various customers on one pretext or the other, including activation of credit card, increasing the limit of credit card, waiving off annual charges etc.

Once the customer got lured by their nefarious design, they used to get the details like card number and OTP.

The accused used to get the amount in these Fastag wallets using the credit card numbers and OTP provided by innocent people. Then, to get the money out of this e-wallet, they tied up with certain petrol pump operators in order to en-cash the cheated amount using a swipe machine.  They were also using a fake current account in order to receive the amount and then distribute shares of different associates.

It is estimated that in a month’s time they had cheated people of around 80 lacs rupees.