2 Arrested By Delhi Police For Bank Scam, 6 Phones Recovered

The Delhi Police have arrested two cybercriminals accused of impersonating bank officials and defrauding people of their money.

The two were identified as Shankar Dan, 27, and Pradeep Kumar Dan, 26. Both are residents of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Shankar Dan was arrested in Jharkhand, Pardeep was held in West Bengal's Birbhum.

A team from the Cyber Police Station of South-West District arrested the two following a complaint filed on June 30. With their arrest, six smartphones, including the calling device and the device which was used for running the billdesk application during fraud, have been recovered.

The police in a media statement on Thursday said that a case of cyber financial fraud was registered based on a complaint wherein the complainant alleged that on June 30, he received a phone call from an unknown number.

The caller falsely introduced himself as an SBI Bank official and informed the complainant about bounced cheques. Under the pretext of verifying cheque images, the fraudster sent a malicious link to the complainant's WhatsApp. Upon clicking the link and installing the attached .APK file, the complainant did not find any cheque images as claimed.

Realising something was suspicious, he immediately disconnected the call, deleted the link, and switched off his phone. However, after restarting the device, the complainant began receiving multiple SMS alerts regarding password changes and unauthorised financial transactions. It was later found that two of his fixed deposits -- worth Rs 5,62,000 and Rs 4,54,000 had been prematurely closed. Additionally, an amount of Rs 48,600 was debited through Google Ads.

The police said that investigation revealed that the OTPs generated during these transactions were diverted to an unknown number. In total, the complainant suffered a financial loss of Rs 10.64 lakh from his Bandhan Bank account due to this fraudulent activity. After preliminary enquiry, a case vide FIR No. 007/2025, U/s 318(4)/319(2)/340 BNS was registered at Police Station Cyber South West, and investigation was taken up.

The police statement said that the investigation primarily focused on tracing the money trail and identifying the alleged calling number used in the offence.

"It was revealed that the defrauded amount of Rs 10.64 lakh was initially transferred from the complainant's Bandhan Bank account to the BillDesk platform (an online payment gateway) through unauthorised access via a malicious link/.APK file. The funds were subsequently utilised for payments towards an Axis Bank credit card and Google ADS services," read the statement.

On the basis of technical analysis and data obtained from BillDesk, it was found that a particular mobile number and device were active in the area of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Further analysis confirmed that the alleged calling number was also operational in the same area. The police said that a team was constituted and raids were conducted in various districts of Dhanbad.

The team pursued the accused for several days, and with the help of local and technical intelligence, the team successfully apprehended Shankar Dan. "Four mobile phones, including the calling device, were recovered from his possession. Subsequently, based on his disclosure and technical inputs, Pradeep Kumar Dan was arrested from Tarapith, District Birbhum, West Bengal, after raids were conducted in Bokaro, Ranchi, and Dhanbad. Two mobile phones were recovered from his possession, including the device used to operate the BillDesk application during the fraud on 30.06.2025," the police said.

The police said that during sustained interrogation, Shankar Dan confessed that he used Amazon Pay to identify potential victims. He randomly entered mobile numbers into the Amazon Pay app, which revealed the bank associated with each number. Based on this information, he contacted the victims, impersonating a bank representative or manager. He would inform the victims about fabricated issues such as KYC updates, credit/debit card problems, or cheque bounces.

"In this particular case, he informed the complainant about a bounced cheque and subsequently sent a malicious .APK file/link via WhatsApp, claiming it contained images of the bounced cheque. Once the victim installed the application, unauthorised access to the bank account was obtained. He then transferred the cheated amount from the complainant's account to the BillDesk application. The money was further routed to Axis Bank credit cards (specifically procured for fraudulent purposes) and used for settling bills on Google ADS services."

The funds were later withdrawn from these credit cards using third-party apps such as CRED and MobiKwik, and also utilised for purchasing gift cards.

During the probe, Shankar Dan further disclosed that the SIM cards used in the fraud were procured from Jamtara, and the .APK file was arranged through WhatsApp. The credit cards were provided by co-accused individuals to receive the cheated funds.

The accused claimed he received a hefty commission of 50 per cent for his role in the fraud. He earned approximately Rs 5 lakh, and the remaining amount was distributed among other members of the syndicate.

Shankar Dan primarily handled calling the victims. He, along with his associate Pradeep and others, was actively involved in the criminal operation. They operated from forested areas near their village to evade detection.

During interrogation, accused Pradeep Kumar Dan also admitted to active involvement in the crime. He was responsible for operating the BillDesk application during the fraud. He worked closely with Shankar Dan. After victims were deceived over calls and access to their bank accounts was obtained, Pradeep transferred the money from the bank accounts to the BillDesk platform and subsequently to Axis Bank credit cards. He received a 20 per cent commission for his role in the fraud, said the police.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)