Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police have arrested three individuals involved in an online share-trading fraud that cost a senior official of an automotive company Rs 2.10 crore recently.The arrested trio included Harsh Bhadoriya (32), alias Fortune, of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Vishal Thakkar (28) of Thane, and Mohameed Patel (25) of Sangli. Bhadoriya was taken into custody from Ahmedabad.Police found that Bhadoriya and Thakkar primarily provided mule bank accounts to fraudsters operating from China and other countries. The duo duped at least 26 victims across India.The arrests were carried out by a Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police team headed by senior inspector Ravikiran Nale.The case began after a Pimpri Chinchwad–based automobile company official was lured with promises of high returns on stock investments and ended up losing Rs 2.10 crore to online scammers. A case in this regard was registered with the cyber police station.During the course of the investigation, the police found that Rs 78 lakh of the total fraud amount had been routed to a bank account in Sangli. They later found that the account belonged to a nurse, but it was being operated by her friend Patel.“Our team took Patel into custody. He admitted that the account was being used as a mule account. He also confessed to earning Rs 12 lakh in commission from Thakkar, also known as Samar Gupta,” said assistant inspector Pravin Swami of the cyber police.A separate team led by sub-inspector Sagar Poman then went to Thane, where they arrested Thakkar.Thakkar told officers that he provided mule accounts to a person called Fortune and received cryptocurrency in exchange. “Thakkar had never actually seen Fortune, as he never shared photos of himself—only images of his luggage,” Swami added.Police later learned that Fortune would be flying from Varanasi to Ahmedabad. Sub-inspector Vaibhav Patil identified him using a photo of his bags and arrested him upon arrival.“After sustained questioning, Fortune—whose real name is Harsh Bhadoriya—admitted that he had connections with fraudsters based in China and other countries,” the officer said.Patil further explained that Thakkar, a share trader, and Bhadoriya contacted various cybercrooks through a messaging app and informed them about the availability of mule bank accounts. “They would share bank details with whichever fraudster offered them the highest commission,” the officer said.
