Inactive CSC IDs misused in ₹3-cr cyber fraud; 2 held | Varanasi News

IPS Mavis Tak with the two accused

Lucknow: Sonbhadra Cyber Crime Police busted a cyber fraud network that generated transactions worth over Rs 3 crore by hijacking inactive Common Service Centre (CSC) IDs and creating fake accounts using unsuspecting citizens’ documents.The accused were identified as Ashish Kumar Pandey, resident of Usmanpur in Mirzapur district, and Abhay Kumar Gound, a resident of Nawapura in Varanasi’s Sarnath area. Police said Ashish worked as a contractual CSC worker.SP, Sonbhadra, Abhishek Kumar Verma, said police found that the accused procured login credentials of dormant CSC operators on the pretext of reactivating their centres, changed passwords and handed over the accounts to cyber fraudsters. The racketeers used identity documents of unsuspecting people to create and verify fresh CSC IDs, which were then deployed for cyber fraud.The probe gathered pace after several complaints of identities and CSC credentials being misused. In one case, a Sonbhadra resident was arrested by Gujarat Police after a CSC ID created using his documents surfaced in a criminal investigation, forcing him to obtain bail despite claiming no involvement in the fraud.Police said the network’s activities are linked to cyber fraud transactions worth around Rs 3 crore. Two accused were arrested and booked under relevant provisions of the BNS and IT Act. Mobile phones and a motorcycle were seized during the operation.Police said several individuals and Common Service Centre operators were affected by the racket. Vishal Patel, resident of Sukrit in Sonbhadra’s Robertsganj area, submitted his documents at a Jan Seva Kendra for opening a bank account, which were misused to create a CSC ID, verified by the accused. Patel was arrested by Gujarat Police after the CSC ID created using his documents was used for criminal activities. He had to secure bail in the case.Similarly, a CSC ID was created in the name of a student, Sushil Kumar, and misused for cyber fraud. The operator IDs of two other Jan Seva Kendras, belonging to Ramesh Kumar Gurjar of Kanhara village in Obra and Savita, wife of Roopnath Prajapati, were also misused for fraudulent activities.