Pune: Pimpri Chinchwad police have invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against a cyberfraud gang accused of cheating a senior citizen of Rs86 lakh through a fake trading app.This is the second time this year that the Pimpri Chinchwad police have invoked MCOCA against cybercrooks.A 60-year-old retired deputy general manager of an automotive company lost Rs86 lakh after cybercrooks lured him into investing through a bogus trading application. The fraud proceeds were routed through multiple bank accounts. During the investigation, the police froze funds in some of the accounts and obtained a court order to return Rs28 lakh to the complainant. An officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police said the team traced the money trail to bank accounts operated from Pune, Latur, Ahilyanagar, Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad.Six accused have been arrested so far, while efforts are on to trace others. The arrested accused have been identified as Tejas Lokhande (24) of Markal, Avinash Dnyanoba Baklikar (28) of Latur, Harshal Bora (34) of Ahilyanagar, Sonu Sharma (21) of Navi Mumbai, Gaurav Gadge (24) of Mumbai and Akhil Nelluri (24) of Hyderabad.The accused were allegedly in contact with the main accused, who is based in Cambodia. The gang used social media platforms to lure people with promises of high returns on stock market investments. “The fraud proceeds were moved through bank accounts and converted into virtual currency such as USDT, with suspected links to international cybercriminals,” the officer said.He added that members of the organised gang were also found to have links to offences registered in Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Gujarat. These offences included cheating, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, drug trafficking and the preparation of forged documents.The investigation is being conducted by assistant commissioner of police Rohini Bankar (cyber and economic offences) of the Pimpri Chinchwad police.
