The Criminal Investigation Department has arrested a cybercriminal involved in an investment scam conducted through the fake trading application Viking Trading.apk , which was installed via advertisements received on Facebook through a group by the name Banking Global Investors, online block trading .
This action follows the investigation of Cyber Crime Police Station Case No. 114/24, registered on April 16, 2024, under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 66(B), 66(C), and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.
The case originated from a written complaint lodged by a Ranchi resident concerning a fraudulent scheme amounting to Rs 80,00,000 lakhs. The fraudsters convinced the victim to install a fake trading application Viking trading.apk after being contacted by a group Banking Global Investors, online block trading through Facebook. He was persuaded to register in the fake trading application and invest in various bank accounts registered in names of companies.
He could only see her virtual profits on the application, which could never be redeemed. Leveraging technical and financial analysis of the criminal trails, the CID, Jharkhand arrested a cyber-criminal, Ashok Kumar Ravi, from Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu. He collaborated with his other associated, opened bank accounts in name of dummy proprietorship firms. The accused received various apk received from his associates for automatically transmit the bank transaction OTP received from bnak for huge transactions.
The victim was enticed with an investment opportunity via Facebook group Banking Global Investors, online block trading which he joined. Subsequently, the victim was directed to install a fraudulent investment application Viking Trading.apk where he was convinced to invest. Following registration, the victim was instructed to transfer funds into multiple bank accounts provided to him through WhatsApp channels. Virtual profits were shown on the phishing website which were illusory and irredeemable. Consequently, he fell victim to the scam, losing a staggering sum of 80 lakh rupees.
Further interrogation and investigation uncovered that Aadhar and PAN cards were utilized to open bank accounts which the accused supplied to his associate for committing the crime. Inter State Crime Linkages of the involved and recovered bank accounts : The South Indian Bank account no 0253073000011840 involved in the case had a credit transaction of Rs 2,74,73,252 in 16 days. 27 complaints reported on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal Against the Account from various States
The arrested Cyber criminal was identified as Ashok Kumar Ravi, Age-35 , District-Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu. SIM Cards linked with bank account involved in crime were recovered and WhatsApp chat related to exchange of internet banking credentials of bank account used in crime was also found.
