A 21-year-old man, Yogesh Meena, was arrested on March 1 in Bundi district, Rajasthan for allegedly training around 500 youngsters from his village in cyber fraud. He was apprehended along with three others, one of whom was a minor. Yogesh is believed to be behind at least 50 cases of cyber fraud committed in the past year. During the arrest, police recovered a gold ring from Yogesh and Rs 82,000 cash along with four cellphones from the other three accused.
The police investigation revealed that Yogesh selected youths from three villages in Bundi and Sawai Madhopur districts – Rawal, Babai, and Chamanganj – for his training sessions. He is a BA student at a college in Sawai Madhopur and is said to have learned the art of conning from another villager, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
According to Sandeep Ahlawat, inspector of cybercrime in Manesar, Yogesh conducted hour-long classes for the youths, teaching them how to operate Telegram channels and communicate with potential targets. The fraudsters were trained to pose as salespersons on popular trading platforms, adding people to their Telegram groups and sending fake stock postings to trick them into investing. Once the victims sent money, the fraudsters would block their numbers or disable their Telegram channels.
The search for Yogesh began after the cybercrime branch received a complaint about a Rs 1 lakh fraud in September last year. The victim had been added to a Telegram channel by the fraudsters, who promised high returns on stock trading investments. Based on the complaint, a case was registered and the investigators traced the money trail to a bank account linked to a 19-year-old student named Dayaram Meena. Dayaram, a Class 11 student from Babai, revealed Yogesh’s involvement when he was arrested on March 1.
Yogesh admitted to training at least 500 youths in cyber fraud, a scheme reminiscent of the notorious cybercrime hub in Jamtara, Jharkhand. Along with Dayaram, Vikas Meena from Chamanganj and a 15-year-old juvenile from Bundi, both trained by Yogesh, were also apprehended. Dayaram cheated 30 people, Vikas conned 12, and the juvenile scammed four individuals.
It is worth noting that Yogesh has a previous criminal record and was previously booked in an Arms Act case, according to the ACP.
