In a major operation against cyber-enabled financial crimes, the Morigaon police arrested around 16 miscreants in connection with the matter from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.

Based on a complaint lodged by the authorities of the Axis Bank, Morigaon Branch, an 11-member team led by the Superintendent of Police conducted searches at 21 locations across the Moirabari and Laharighat areas in the district since yesterday night and arrested the criminals, the police said.

Speaking to the media, a top police official said, “We have received a complaint from senior officers of the Axis bank that a racket siphoned over Rs 10 crore through Rupay credit cards by using fake PAN cards. The cardholders were from outside the state of Assam. Going through the list, we came to know that almost 30% of the fraudsters are already arrested and are currently serving judicial custody. We are looking for the other fraudsters who are at large. We have received ample support from the locals, of late, following which we have already busted fake Aadhaar enrolment centres at three places and arrested several operators who were running the nexus. So far more than 150 individuals have been arrested for cyber-enabled financial crimes in Morigaon district.”

During the operation, the Morigaon police recovered a total of 33 PAN cards, of which 20 cardholders were found to be residents of other states. The police also recovered 29 bank passbooks of various banks, ATM cards – 66 numbers, Aadhaar cards- 37 numbers of which seven cardholders were from outside the state of Assam, Mobile – 39 numbers, Sim cards- 107 numbers, Voter cards- 23 numbers of which 10 were found to be genuine cards.

Two cases have been registered in connection to the aforementioned crimes at Moirabari Police Station 18/24 and Laharighat Police Station 26/24, the police said.

Modus Operandi

According to the police, the fraudsters made accounts to apply for credit cards issued by Axis Bank partnered with Kiwi Company. In the mobile application provided by the said company, the criminals use PAN cards of persons hailing from outside the state of Assam with good credit scores. The bank finding the credit score good and a genuine PAN number issues the credit card in the given name. Once the fraudsters get access to money up to the maximum limit through credit cards, they switch off their mobile phones or they change their SIM cards.