Delhi Police Bust Online Job Fraud Racket with Chinese Links, Three Arrested

According to PTI, the accused — Sabbir Ahmed (43), Mohammad Sarfaraz (32) and Mohammad Dilshad (20) — were reportedly facilitating financial transactions for the syndicate by arranging bank accounts to receive defrauded money, converting it into cryptocurrency, and transferring it to Chinese handlers via decentralised exchange wallets.

The arrests followed a complaint by a Tilak Nagar-based nurse, who claimed she was duped of Rs 15.94 lakh in a part-time online job scam. The victim had joined a social media group after seeing an advertisement offering work-from-home jobs and was lured into investing money in task-based jobs with promises of high returns, the officer said.

Investigators traced the money trail to accounts linked to the trio, and the accused were arrested during raids in Uttam Nagar and Batla House. Police recovered Rs 5 lakh in cash, five mobile phones, 10 bank passbooks, and 14 cheque books used in the fraud.

Dilshad, a graduate student in Gorakhpur, reportedly revealed during interrogation that he had been in contact with a Chinese national for about a year. “The foreign contact allegedly tasked him with arranging mule bank accounts to receive cheated funds in exchange for a commission of 5 per cent. The accused then withdrew the money, converted it into USD Tether (USDT), and transferred it to wallets controlled by Chinese handlers,” the officer said.

Police said Sarfaraz, an MBA, managed the syndicate, while Sabbir Ahmed, a painter by profession, assisted in cash withdrawals for a 1 per cent commission.

At least 26 complaints linked to the same beneficiary accounts have been reported on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, involving transactions worth approximately Rs 2.60 crore, authorities added. Police are continuing efforts to trace the larger network connected to the Chinese handlers.

(With inputs from PTI)