The Cyber Cell of Delhi Police arrested 12 people, including two Chinese women and a Tibetan, on charges of duping 40,000 people of crores through malware apps.
The gang duped the people of crores by making them install apps of their marketing scheme, which had malware.
After they installed the app, the users were exploited for creating social media influencers.
The DCP Cybercrime, Delhi tweeted: “In a major action, the CyPAD Unit of @DelhiPolice has arrested two Chinese nationals along with 10 others for running an online malicious App that hacked into Indian Users’ devices and also pushed them to follow Social Media (FB, Insta & YT) accounts of unknown origin and control.”
A media report quoted deputy commissioner of police (Cyber Cell) Anyesh Roy as saying that around 40,000 victims were cheated in the last two months by the gang.
“Almost Rs 4.75 crore was blocked in various bank accounts and Rs 25 lakh in cash was recovered from the Chinese nationals,” the report quoted Roy as saying.
The arrested Chinese women, identified as 27-year-old Chaohong Deng Daoyong and 54-year-old Wu Jiazhi (54) are from the Sichuan province of China.
According to police, the targets of the gang were enticed to download their malware apps via a link, which is circulated through WhatsApp.
The victims, who were duped of huge money, were offered daily commission of up to Rs 3,000 for spending 30 minutes on the app (malware).
During that period of 30 minutes, the victims are asked to promote internet celebrities on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
Police more people will be arrested in the case.