Pimpri Chinchwad police have arrested a Russian national for allegedly having links with Malaysian fraudsters in the online stock trading scam case.
The police have identified the accused as 30-year-old Tony alias Anatoly Mironov from Orenburg, Russia. Police also arrested his Indian associate Shreyas Sanjay Mane (22), an engineering dropout living in Shastri Nagar, Kothrud area of Pune city.
According to a press release issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doifode on Saturday, earlier this year a man from Wakad lost Rs 70 lakh 5 thousand in online stock trading. An FIR was registered in this matter at the Cyber Police Station.
According to the FIR, the conman lured the victim to earn huge profits by joining a WhatsApp group and subscribing to online share trading and IPO. Kanman made the victim install a mobile app for online share trading. Later, according to their instructions, the victim kept transferring money to various bank accounts in the name of ‘buying shares’. As time passed, he realized that he was not getting any returns.
During the investigation, the police zeroed the ‘mule’ bank account where the money was transferred by the victim. Investigation revealed that on November 26, Rs. 2.8 lakh was stolen from the Cosmos Bank account. On further investigation, it was revealed that the account was operated by two foreign nationals, Tony and Mark, from Goa.
A team of Pune police went to Goa and with the help of local police arrested Tony alias Anatoly Mironov from Mandrem in Goa. On the basis of interrogation, the police arrested Mane from Kothrud. The court ordered Tony and Mane to be kept in police custody till December 15 for further investigation.
According to the police, Tony was found to have gone to Malaysia for allegedly operating mule accounts used for cyber fraud. His name also came up as an accused in two cases registered in Gujarat, the press release said.
A police official said Tony is suspected of having links with Malaysian racketeers involved in cyber scams and converting crypto currency into cash.
Deputy Inspector Swamy said that Tony works as a barber in Russia and frequently visits India on a tourist visa. He came to India in March this year and came again in September.
Swamy said that accused Mane Khachhar is the account handler who went to Goa to meet Tony. According to the police, Mane collected bank account details and cellphone numbers from his friends on the pretext of online gaming and then provided the information to Tony in Goa.
According to the police, they are looking for Mark on the suspicion that he is also involved with international criminals involved in cyber fraud.
Why should you buy our membership?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be confused and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package
Click here to join Express Pune Whatsapp Channel And get a curated list of our stories