The Kochi cyber police on Tuesday, December 24, arrested a man from West Bengal in connection to a cyber scam racket suspected to be run out of Cambodia. The accused was identified as 38-year-old Linkan Biswas, who is a leader of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The police said Biswas was the third accused in the crime, where a retired professor had lost Rs 4.12 crore, and they were in the process of tracking others with the information they collected so far.
In a press meet on Wednesday, December 25, Kochi Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladitya said that Linkan Biswas had collected the bank details of many people to scam them, and the money he collected was transferred abroad. “He used bitcoin to transfer the money abroad,” he added.
According to the Commissioner, Linkan had multiple bank accounts, and they found around Rs 75 lakh from some of his accounts. He had also purchased a car recently and started the construction of his house using the money he collected through the scams. Since he was an active political party member, the police are investigating whether any of the money had been used for party activities. An investigation is also ongoing to find whether his bank accounts were linked to any other fraudulent activities.
The police suspect that the accused is part of a major racket with roots in Cambodia. “We found one Chinese app on his phone, and we also found Cambodian IP addresses,” he added.
A month ago, a retired professor in Kakkanad lost Rs 4.12 crore in a digital arrest scam. Based on her complaint, the police arrested two Malappuram natives, Muhammad Muhasil (22) and KP Mishab (21) in connection with the scam. The investigation into this case led the police to information on Linkan.
