On 25th June, the Cyber Police arrested two cyber criminals including a girl from Patna for duping people to the tune of Rs 5 crore in the past six months. The accused duo were receiving a 10% commission for each fraud and they had links to Pakistan, as per the police. As per reports, the accused girl identified as Isha (23) is a B. Com graduate who used to make reels on Instagram. A few years ago, she left her in-law’s house and a few-month-old boy. Soon after, she came in contact with Mustak Alam, identified as Nestak Alam in some Hindi media reports, while making reels.
Love Fraud J!had: Motihari, Bihar: Isha Jaiswal left her husband & 1.5yr old son for her Social Media Boyfriend Nestaq Ahmed. Isha's famous Lines: "Ladki hu, Roti bana aur Kama sakti hu"
— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) June 28, 2024
Nestaq Miyan with his Pakistani connections, got Isha into Cyber Fraud, both arrested 🤲 pic.twitter.com/FPRIt5lvnQ
Mustak Alam (24), who was active in cyber criminal activities for more than 4 years, developed a friendship with her and roped her into the world of cyber crime.
The accused Mustak Alam is a resident of Jawkatia village while Isha Kumari is a resident of Naurangia village. Both accused were operating from Patna.
रील बनाने वाली ईशा पाकिस्तान कनेक्शन।
— News18 Bihar (@News18Bihar) June 28, 2024
कटिहार पुलिस ने साइबर फ्रॉड मामले में मोतिहारी की रहने वाली ईशा जायसवाल को पटना में अपने ब्वॉयफ्रेंड नेस्ताक आलम के साथ किया गिरफ्तार। pic.twitter.com/FHPQXTf6cH
Isha left her in-law’s house around 1.5 years ago after which she took to the path of crime to make a living. According to the information received, Isha used to live in Delhi where her father Guddu Chaudhary works. She is the eldest among 4 siblings. In 2020, she got married in Nepal. However, due to some disputes, she left her in-law’s house and then left her toddler son with her mother in Naurangia village. Her son lives with her Nani and Isha’s siblings – 2 brothers and one sister.
According to Katihar Police sources, Isha and Nestak (Mustak) have been living together for more than a year. During this time, Mustak made Isha an expert in ATM fraud.
Isha used to wait in ATM lines and on the pretext of helping unaware ATM users, she used to exchange customers’ ATM cards and later used to make transactions from the real cards. She also used to call as needed and scam people on some pretext or other.
It is pertinent to note that in the Champaran district of Bihar, a few Panchayats like Jawkatia, Lal Saraiya, and Ramnagar Bankat have been on the radar of probing agencies as youth from these areas are notorious for being involved in cyber crimes. As per reports, ED, IT, and NIA have raided several places in these areas. A majority of cyber frauds have been arrested from Jawkatia. As per Bettiah Police sources, over 50 youths have been arrested from Jawkatia.
As per the Police, around 700 to 1000 youth from the village are involved in cyber crimes. 24-year-old Mustak is a resident of Jawkatia Purana tolla. Four years ago, sixth-fail Alam used to work as an electrician in Bettiah when he came in contact with cyber criminals in his native village. Through them, he made contact with Pakistani networks.
Official Police response
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Cyber Cell, Katihar Police, Saddam Hussain said that they were tracking the cyber fraudsters through technical surveillance.
Cyber Police Station Head said that during the interrogation, the duo admitted to having direct contact with the neighbouring country. He added, “They carried out these fraudulent activities through audio and video calls from Multan, Pakistan. They also gave details of more than a dozen Pakistani bank passbook.”
He added, “We came to know about them while probing a cheating case registered at the cyber police station in Katihar in November 2023. They were operating from Patna’s Kadam Kuan locality. Accordingly, we conducted a raid and arrested the accused.”
The police said that handlers from across the border used to deposit between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh into the duo’s accounts every day. They took their share and deposited the remaining amount into several bank accounts in Pakistan. They used WhatsApp to communicate with criminals in Pakistan.
Hussain added the duo arrested from Patna were in contact with around 20 cyber frauds from Pakistan. They fetched details of over 100 bank accounts from them. The Pakistan-based cyber frauds gave them Rs 15000 and Rs 10000 corresponding to each account in SBI or other banks respectively.
The Pakistani cyber criminals used to ask them to divert money into several bank accounts whose ATM and details were with cyberfrauds sitting in Patna. After getting money, Pakistanis used to give them confirmation through WhatsApp. The frauds in Patna used to charge 10% commission while the rest were sent to Pakistan.
So far, they have transferred around Rs 5 crore in CDM (Cash Deposit Machine) and through Hawala to Pakistani cyber frauds in the last 5 months.
Police recovered 16 ATM cards, 6 mobile, and 6 Sims from their possession. According to the Police, they were connected with cyber frauds from Jamtara, Nabada, Bhopal, and Mumbai.
The DSP said, “From the confiscated mobile phones and ATM cards, evidence of transactions totaling crores of rupees has been discovered. It has also come to our notice that hundreds of bank accounts, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, over 100 banking QR codes, and several cellphone numbers are linked to Pakistan.”
