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Three Arrested in ‘Money Heist’‑Style Trading Scam With Suspected China Links

Investigators describe a Delhi cell that funneled money through mule accounts to handlers in China as well as Cambodia, with totals still under verification.

Overview

  • Delhi cyber police arrested Arpit Mishra, Prabhat Vajpayee and Mohammad Abbas Khan in October after a Delhi victim reported losing about ₹21.77 lakh in a bogus trading scheme.
  • The trio used Money Heist aliases including “Professor,” “Amanda” and “Denver,” created WhatsApp groups to pose as stock experts and pushed investors into a fake Direct Market Account.
  • Raids in Noida Sector 49 and Siliguri led to the recovery of 11 mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 32 debit cards, bank passbooks and screenshots of transactions and chats.
  • Police say local operatives arranged mule bank accounts, harvested credentials from recruits kept in hotels and routed proceeds via cryptocurrency and hawala to overseas handlers.
  • Officers report hundreds of victims with losses variously estimated at roughly ₹50–₹250 crore, two alleged accomplices remain at large and international tracing of the money trail continues.