New Delhi: South-West District cyber police have arrested five people in an alleged fake challan SMS fraud network that also used deceptive messages about delivery verification and reward points.
An investigation into a ₹2.21 lakh fraud complaint led to the network, which investigators linked to 544 complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal across the country. The alleged fraud associated with those complaints exceeded ₹10 crore.
According to the investigation, a fake foreign app drew more than 41,000 mobile users into a reward-based arrangement. Users received ₹1 to ₹3 on each redemption, while nine to 12 fraudulent SMS messages were sent from their phones.
The alleged operation used these messages to approach potential victims through several familiar-looking prompts, including traffic challans and delivery checks. Investigators also traced a money trail to a bank in Kuwait.
Police recovered a car, a gold chain, 15 mobile phones or tablets, and 59 debit cards during the operation.
The recoveries also included 52 passbooks or cheque books, stamps of 14 firms, five point-of-sale machines and eight QR scanners. The investigation was supervised by ACP Operations Sandeep Ghai and conducted by the cyber police team led by Inspector Pravesh Kaushik under DCP Amit Goel.
