Online fraud: Karnataka police arrest Kozhikode IUML leader, several others

Kozhikode: A regional leader of the Muslim League in Kozhikode was among those who were arrested by the Karnataka police for online fraud committed in the name of a courier company. The accused Mullapally Ashiq (45), who is a native of Olavanna, was arrested from his house in Mathara here by Karnataka police. 
         
The gang of fraudsters siphoned off money from several individuals posing as investigation officers. Seven Malayalis are reportedly part of the gang.   

The other Keralalites who were arrested in the case include MP Noushad, Arshad, K Riyas, KP Noufal, Mohammed Razi, and Mohammed Nimshad.
The arrest was based on a complaint filed by a Kozhikode native at the Hulimavu police station in Bengaluru. 

The Modus of Operandi
The victim of the fraud received a phone call on November 30, 2023. The call was said to be made from the customer care services of an international courier company named FedEx. The call carried the information that 950 grams of MDMA, five sim cards, ten expired passports, and 1000 US Dollars were seized from a courier that was being sent to Taiwan from Mumbai, the person was told that his Aadhar card was found among these items.

The person was informed that a complaint had been lodged and the customs was informed regarding the incident. He was also tricked into believing that the Mumbai cyber police would handle the case from there on. As per the plan of the fraudsters, the victim was introduced to one of the accused who posed as a cyber cop in front of him in a video call. 
The victim was told that several frauds had been carried out in his name, and he was asked to visit Mumbai to issue his statements. 

The man who posed as the cyber cop also made the victim transfer Rs 19,88,887 to an account that he was told belonged to the RBI. The money was sent on the pretext of a verification process. But it was never returned, and the victim soon realised that he was fooled. He then approached the police.