Jharsuguda: Jharsuguda Police on Tuesday busted a multi-State cyber fraud racket and arrested 12 persons, including two juveniles, under “Operation Netra.” Police recovered 61 passbooks of different banks, 41 ATM cards, 90 mobile phones with SIM cards, a car and a scooter allegedly used in the fraudulent activities.

The fraudsters allegedly used “mule” bank accounts of gullible individuals to route money, with the network spanning across Western Odisha and extending to Bihar and Rajasthan. The gang lured locals, mostly students and daily labourers, with promises of easy money or gaming wins, convincing them to open bank accounts and hand over their banking credentials such as passbooks, ATM cards and internet banking details. The gang offered Rs 15,000 for opening the mule account of which the account holder got Rs 5,000 and the middleman the remaining amount.

The fraudsters used these mule accounts to siphon off approximately Rs 16.4 lakh. The money trail was found to be linked to Jamtara (Jharkhand), a known cybercrime hub. The racket operated across several districts in Western Odisha including Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sonepur and Sundargarh.

Police have appealed to citizens to remain vigilant against such scams and not to surrender banking credentials to strangers in exchange of cash, as they can be trapped in fraud cases.