Delhi Police Arrested 11 People for Scamming 5 Lakh People Via Investment App

New Delhi: The Delhi Police Cyber Cell has arrested 11 persons for allegedly defrauding over 5 lakh customers through an investing app called Power Bank. The accused reportedly defrauded victims of Rs 150 crore in the last two months. The software is available on Google Play and promises rich and speedy returns on investment. 

According to Anyesh Roy, DCP (Special Cell-Cyber), the app's owners and developers are headquartered in China and approached the accused two months ago for assistance with bank accounts and shell companies in India. 

"We received hundreds of complaints on social media about two apps — Power Bank and EZ Plan. Some complainants claimed they lost lakhs of rupees. The Power Bank app was trending on the app store with thousands of downloads," said DCP Roy.

The app's page said that it is a Bangalore-based firm, but the police eventually found that its server is located in China. There was no information available about the company's owners or developers.

The software initially provided a 5-10% quick return on investment, which "attracted" some people who invested in the programme. However, according to authorities, the app eventually banned the users' accounts. 

In order to find the owner, the Cyber Cell's research team made an account on the app.

"Our officer posed as a customer and invested a token amount in the app. We then traced the money trail. It was found the money was being transferred through 25 shell companies and several bank accounts. Our team analyzed the mobile numbers linked to the bank accounts and found that one of the accused is in West Bengal," said DCP Roy.

Teams were dispatched to Uluberia in Bengal in search of a guy named Sheikh Robin. Meanwhile, teams from Delhi were dispatched to the NCR to find and apprehend the other suspects.

Robin was detained on June 2nd. Around the same time, nine additional people were arrested in the Delhi-NCR region. Avik Kedia and Ronak Bansal, two of the accused, are chartered accountants who were discovered to have set up more than 110 shell firms for "Chinese fraudsters." They set up these firms to transfer money and then sold them to Chinese nationals for Rs 2-3 lakh apiece. 

During the interview, Robin informed the police that Chinese nationals contacted him on Telegram and requested that he give them a bank account. Later, he joined the fraudsters and was in charge of all financial transactions on the app. He was operating roughly 29 bank accounts at the time of his arrest. 

According to police, the app's proprietors solicited users on Telegram, Dingtalk, and WeChat at random. They would request that customers give them a bank account and shell companies in order to conceal the money trail. The URL to the software was afterward passed to others via mass texts and WhatsApp. The victims were then promised plans with quick profits on the app. 

DCP Roy stated that his team has acquired the names of the owners and is attempting to locate them. 

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