thenewscrypto.com
- Police have linked Rafiqool Alam to 1,090 cybercrime cases involving more than ₹1,071 crore.
- Investigators traced ₹16 crore through 23 cryptocurrency wallets and linked the transactions to a Chinese gang.
Rafiqool Alam, aged 25, has been arrested by the Gujarat Police in Assam through a three-day sting operation and was found to be involved in 1,090 cybercrime cases. The total estimated damage from these cases is more than ₹1,071 crores. Fraudsters allegedly trapped individuals from various Indian states in a money laundering scheme. The operation began when cyber police helped a person targeted by fraudsters using forged Maharashtra Police and Supreme Court documents.
Bank Accounts Form a Link to Cryptocurrency
According to police allegations, Alam had distributed the looted money across thousands of bank accounts in India. And later, converted some portions of them into cryptocurrency. One of the transactions found by investigators reportedly allocated money to 1,754 bank accounts in just about an hour. They also seized 23 wallets containing approximately ₹16 crore in traceable transactions on Alam’s phone.
In addition, police found that chip sellers and online game accounts were another mode of money transaction during the operation. In addition to that, investigators alleged that Alam had shared information related to wallets, passwords, scanners, user IDs, and criminal instructions with Chinese associates via WhatsApp and Telegram.
Victims Escaped from Losing More
This particular investigation led to the prevention of further payments from victims to the fraudsters. In Ahmedabad, fraudsters allegedly demanded ₹20 lakh from an old person by threatening to implicate him in a illegal online content case. In Surat, another victim had made preparations for a ₹20 lakh transfer because he was blackmailed in terrorism cases and Enforcement Directorate cases. Police have been able to prevent these transactions from happening.
In Jamnagar, an investment broker was promising a return of 50% to 60% in exchange for an already transferred ₹9.5 lakh, and a further ₹10 lakh was also prevented. This includes Mumbai, Raipur, Sundargarh, and Bhubaneswar as well. This particular case is one of many others concerning crypto-related cyber fraud in India.