Bhubaneswar: Balangir district police have busted an organised cybercrime network allegedly using Philippines-routed WhatsApp numbers to evade detection and coordinate cyber fraud operations. Four members of the international gang were arrested on Thursday, police said on Friday.The arrested accused were identified as Prakash Sharma (26) and Sunny Barve alias Jocker (25), both from Raipur, and Prasanna Kumar Nag (38) and Jubaraj Deep (40), both from Balangir district. According to police sources, the four accused acted as mule account operators in Odisha and other parts of the country.“We recently received input from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) about suspicious cyber fraud activity in Balangir district. During the investigation, we detected a mule-account network used for routing and withdrawing proceeds of cyber investment fraud,” Balangir SP Abilash G said.Following a directive from DGP (in-charge) Vinaytosh Mishra based on the I4C input, the Crime Branch supervised the investigation and provided technical assistance to the Balangir cyber police.“A key finding of the investigation was the alleged use of foreign-routed WhatsApp Business virtual numbers to coordinate the operation, share bank account credentials and issue instructions for fund transfers and cash withdrawals. During the investigation, we found that the phone numbers were being operated from Philippines,” Crime Branch DIG, Madkar Sandeep Sampat said.Police said the fraud proceeds were routed through bank accounts opened in the names of several business entities by the arrested accused. The network allegedly procured mule account credentials, layered the cheated money through multiple accounts, withdrew it in cash and passed it on to successive handlers.Police seized mobile phones, cheque books, passbooks and debit cards from the accused. “The operation was based on leads provided through the Samanvay portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre. While the mule-account operators and aggregators have been arrested, further investigation is underway to identify and trace other members of the gang,” Sampat said.
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