Five Arrested in Deoghar Cyber Fraud Crackdown; Nine Mobile Phones and 10 SIM Cards Seized

Deoghar: In a crackdown on cybercrime, Deoghar police arrested five suspected cyber fraudsters during a raid in the Dakay forest area under Sarath police station limits on October 30. Nine mobile phones and 10 SIM cards were recovered from their possession.

The operation was carried out under the direction of Superintendent of Police Praveen Pushkar and led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Kailash Prasad Mahto. Police launched the raid after receiving information that a group of people was allegedly cheating unsuspecting victims by posing as customer care representatives of online shopping platforms and digital payment services, including Flipkart, Amazon, Airtel Payment Bank and PhonePe.

A preliminary examination of the seized mobile phones and SIM cards reportedly revealed evidence suggesting the involvement of the arrested men in cyber fraud activities.

The accused have been identified as Uttam Kumar Das (24), Vikas Kumar Mahara (19) and Ashok Mahara (22), all residents of Sarath in Deoghar district; Manik Kumar Mandal (21), a resident of Saraiyahat in Dumka district; and Ajit Das (22), from Devipur in Deoghar district.

According to police, the accused allegedly used multiple methods to target victims. They lured people with cashback offers while impersonating customer care executives of digital payment platforms. They also reportedly circulated malicious Android application package (APK) files disguised as official documents and services related to the PM-KISAN scheme, electricity bills and RTO challans. Once installed, these applications could provide the fraudsters with access to victims' mobile phones and facilitate financial fraud.

The raid was conducted by a team comprising Inspector Bisheshwar Kumar of Deoghar Cyber Police Station, Sub-Inspector Motiram Devgam, officer-in-charge of Pathardda police outpost, and other armed police personnel.

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