Gangs from other states under scanner

The prevailing crisis in supply of oxygen, life-saving medicines, injections and equipment for treating Covid-19 has not only thrown open opportunities for hoarders and black marketeers, but also activated syndicates previously involved in phishing and other online cheating, police said. The new trend is that these online fraudsters dupe Covid patients and their family members by offering to deliver essential items.

Pointing to how such incidents of online cheating have increased in the last 10 days, officers said they have reason to believe that gangs operating from Delhi-ncr, Jharkhand’s Jamtara, Bengal’s Purulia, and Mewat in Haryana are behind several of the crimes.

They said most of the bank accounts to transfer the cheated money were being hired on a commission basis -- a common modus operandi of these gangs.

Delhi Police said they busted one such gang on Monday, and arrested a 26-year-old man from Faridabad who was not

NEW DELHI:

only directly involved in cheating Covid patients and their relatives but also rented out his bank accounts to other gang members to transfer money.

Pointing to the home town of the accused, Rohit Kumar Yadav, who is from Jharkhand, police said they were not ruling out his links with cyber frauds operating out of the Jamtara area in the state.

“Yadav and his associates, who are yet to be caught, used to call people who were sending SOS messages for oxygen cylinders or life-saving drugs on social media, and trick them into depositing advance money for delivery of the goods. They collected between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000 but never delivered the items and subsequently ignored the victims,” said DCP (south) Atul Kumar Thakur.

Police officers said that apart from looking for targets posting SOS messages along with their contact numbers on social media, these gangs were also widely circulating their phone numbers online, claiming to be the suppliers of oxygen cylinders, medicines and medical equipment used for treating Covid-19.