Mumbai: Police arrested three fraudsters who allegedly opened bank accounts of several individuals, including men, by assuring them financial aid under the Ladki Bahin Scheme, and using them for parking funds received through cyber crimes and money laundering, officials said.
Prima facie, transactions worth crores of rupees were effected through these accounts, many of which are linked to cyber fraud, money laundering, trading, and conversion of black money.
After luring the gullible sections, mainly from the low-income category, the accused used to "sell" their bank accounts to cyber fraudsters, police said.
According to preliminary investigation, around 2,500 bank accounts were opened, some of which were allegedly sold to cyber fraudsters and money launderers, a Juhu police station official said.
Acting swiftly, police have frozen more than 100 active bank accounts linked to the scam and seized Rs 19,43,779 in these accounts.
An official said most of the victims are men, who were promised to get the Rs 1,500 government aid every month under the Ladki Bahin Yojana, even though the scheme caters exclusively to eligible women beneficiaries.
The scam was exposed when a labourer, who lives in Nehru Nagar slum in Vile Parle, lodged a complaint with the police, leading to the arrest of Avinash Kamble (25) and subsequently two others.
Kamble would approach slum dwellers with an offer to open bank accounts and charge Rs 1,000 for his services, police said.
"The gang collected SIM cards and documents, including passbooks, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards linked to the bank accounts, which Kamble later sold for Rs 4,000 each," police said.
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