MUMBAI: Two people were booked on Monday for allegedly providing bank accounts to cyber fraudsters to route and siphon off money from victims in 14 cybercrime cases across the country.
The duo opened bank accounts in the names of fictitious firms to facilitate fraudulent transactions and handed over the account details to cyber criminals, police said. The accused have been identified as Faraz Zakir Sharif, an Andheri resident, and Aman Gam Mohiddin Khan Ashiya from Powai.
The arrests were made during the investigation of a case in which a 66-year-old trader, Jayesh Natwarlal Mehta, was duped of ₹10.35 lakh after being threatened with digital arrest in a fake money laundering probe.
Between December 12 and December 19, 2025, Mehta received multiple calls from people identifying themselves as senior police officers under the names Sandeep Rao, Vijay Khanna, and Akash Kulkarni. Police have not yet tracked these individuals.
They allegedly told him he was involved in money laundering and claimed a case had been registered against him after which they placed him under digital arrest at his residence. Mehta was then coerced into sharing bank details and personal information. Subsequently, ₹10.35 lakh was transferred from his account to one of the accused-linked accounts.
Upon realising he had been cheated, Mehta lodged a complaint with the North Cyber Cell on December 20. A case was registered under sections pertaining to cheating by impersonation and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
A team led by Assistant Police Inspector Sandeep Panchagane traced the money trail and found that the money had been routed through four bank accounts, which were also linked to other cyber fraud cases. Fourteen cyber cells across various states have frozen the identified accounts.
Authorities traced the accused duo through the mobile numbers used to open the bank accounts and tracked their location using the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.