KBC Lottery Fraud: North East Delhi Police busted a gang of fraudster who duped people of crores

Cyber Police Station in North-East District has shown a remarkable investigative approach to bust a gang that used to cheat people in the name of popular television show Kaun Banega Karorpati (KBC).

Numbers of Complaints were being reported in different police stations including Cyber Police Station, Jyoti Nagar in North East Delhi about innocent people being allured and cheated on the pretext of winning of lottery in the name of “Kaun Banega Karorpati” (KBC).

As the KBC is a popular television show and is being viewed across the country, the fraudsters have conspired on it and taken the benefits of its wide reach popularity and trapped number of people.

“The fraudsters used to call/send audio clippings through WhatsApp numbers to the targeted persons and convince them, that, they had won the popular show i.e. KBC lottery for Rs. 25 lakh,” Sanjay Kumar Sain, DCP, North-East District, Delhi, said.

He added, “Further, in order to win over the confidence of the victim, they further used to send the videos of bundles of cash/currency notes and told that this is the amount they have won and to get this cash amount, they need to pay them some amount against documentation charges, TDS and other taxes. They send their account numbers to the targets.”

Moreover, to strengthen the belief of the target they also sent some video clippings wherein some people was seen saying that they have also won the KBC lottery and now they are in the bank to receive their winning amount.

The fraudsters used to entice the innocent poor people of the villages for providing their bank account details on the pretext of providing benefits of various schemes e.g. mutual funds and others. Fraudsters also insist villagers to transfer the received benefits (cash) back to their bank accounts on the pretext of paying a certain portion of that amount to them.

Thus, these fraudsters have been trapping/cheating innocent people in the name of winning of KBC lottery. On the other hand, they were using/involving innocent people in cheating by getting their bank account details in lieu of cash benefits.

In the instant matter, Saroj Devi resident of Karawal Nagar, Delhi, alleged that from 09/10/2021 to 13/10/2021, the caller of mobile number 8434346071 & 9511452458, impersonated himself as a KBC official and told her that she would get a lottery of rupees 25 lacs from KBC. He told that she would get a lottery amount if she paid some charges. On the pretext of winning of KBC lottery of rupees 25 lacs, fraudsters cheated rupees Rs 8,85,000.

Neither lottery amounts nor the above said cheated amounts have been refunded to her. Accordingly, a case was registered and an investigation was taken up.

“Keeping in view the gravity of the case, a dedicated team comprising of SI Mohit, SI Naresh Kumar, HC Devender, Const. Sanjeev Kumar, Const. Vivek Yadav under the supervision of Inspector Vikas Kumar Buldak, SHO/PS Cyber/NED was assigned the task for investigation and cracking the case at the earliest,” DCP Sain said.

During a thorough investigation of the case, it has been revealed that, in the month of October 2021, WhatsApp messages with audio clip in which fraudsters claiming that you have won 25 Lac rupees in KBC Lottery if you want to get the amount of rupees 25 Lacs, call on WhatsApp number given in the message.

Further, it was revealed that the said message and audio clip of winning KBC 25 lakhs of rupees were being sent to numbers of users of WhatsApp to different areas of PAN India. In the technical analysis, it was established that fraudsters have created a syndicate to cheat people on the pretext of winning the KBC Lottery and the same is being operated from the remote areas of West Bengal and Jharkhand.

Numbers of innocent people have been cheated for lakhs of rupees with the same modus operandi by the fraudsters.

During the further course of the investigation, it also revealed that fraudsters receives the cheated amount in various bank accounts of West Bengal and Bihar. The said amounts were further being transferred to different e-wallets like Paytm, Phonpe and Google pay and subsequently transferred to different bank accounts of West Bengal. The dedicated police team analyzed details of numbers of bank accounts, mobile numbers and IP addresses and zeroed-in at Nagarkata, WB.

On 30.01.2022, on the basis of bank accounts, mobile numbers, IP addresses, technical investigation, CDR, location and human intelligence, a raid was conducted at Nagarkata, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal and a 20-year-old person namely Aniket Singh, resident of Nagarkata, West Bengal, was arrested.

On interrogation, Aniket revealed about a person namely Sameer Ansari who allured Aniket for providing his bank account for the fraud purpose in lieu of profit @2% for each transaction.

Subsequently, the team raided multiple locations in West Bengal and finally arrested Sameer after 2 days of tiresome efforts with technical support from the cyber police station, Jyoti Nagar, Delhi.

Later, on sustained interrogation, it surfaced that Sameer is the main member of this syndicate/racket arranging bank accounts details of people of Nagarkatta, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal to Shubham Mandal, head of the racket/syndicate who resides in Jharkhand and had cheated crores of rupees from innocent people across the country.

DCP Sain said, ”Sameer further disclosed that Shubam Mandal R/o Dhanbad, Jharkhand is his boss in this racket. Sameer entices the poor people and convinces them for providing their account details for receiving the cheated amount for a mere sum. Sameer also receives a certain percentage of benefits of the cheated amount.”

He added, “Prima facie, dozens of bank accounts were got arranged by Sameer and more than crore rupees have been transacted through these accounts. Sincere efforts are being made to trace/nab accused Subham Mandal. Further investigation of the case is in progress.