Stories
Escaped Digital Arrest, Then Commited ₹150 Crore Fraud: How A Graphics Designer Became A Cyber King
- •The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested the mastermind Pankaja Gupta from Indore in a major cybercrime crackdown.
- •After narrowly escaping a digital arrest scam five years ago, the graphics designer used his coding skills to join cybercriminals.
- •He misused government schemes like PM Kisan Yojana and Senior Citizen Card to create 2,805 fake malware APK files.
- •Fraudsters used his malicious apps to swindle ₹150 crore from 9,673 innocent citizens across the country.
- •The racket was exposed after a 60-year-old senior citizen in Byculla, Mumbai, lost ₹5.62 lakh through a fake APK file download.
Key Questions Answered
The fraud was uncovered after a 60-year-old senior citizen in Byculla, Mumbai, lost Rs 5.62 lakh by downloading a fake APK file linked to the Senior Citizen Card Scheme. The Mumbai Crime Branch's Property Cell used technical evidence to trace the case to Indore and arrest the mastermind.
Pankaja Gupta misused government names like PM Kisan Yojana and e-challan to create 2,805 fake malware APK files, renting servers to store data and selling each file to cyber gangs for Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. These apps covertly forwarded bank messages, phone calls, and OTPs to thieves, enabling a nationwide fraud totaling Rs 150 crore.
Five years prior to his arrest, Pankaja Gupta had narrowly escaped falling victim to a 'digital arrest' scam. Utilizing his coding knowledge and drawing from that past experience, he decided to aid cybercriminals by developing fraudulent malware applications.
