New Delhi

The Delhi Police has busted a major multi-state cyber-fraud syndicate allegedly involved in duping bank customers on the pretext of updating their KYC details and arrested four men from Jharkhand and West Bengal, an official said on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Shiv Kumar Ravidas (22), Sanjay Ravidas (33), Dinesh Ravidas (29) and Shubham Kumar Barnwal (25), he said.

"The syndicate members posed as bank officials and created a sense of urgency among the victims regarding KYC updates. They allegedly induced people to install malicious APK files on their mobile phones, which enabled them to gain unauthorised remote access to banking applications and personal financial data," the senior police officer said.

Police said the accused used the compromised credentials to fraudulently avail loans, transfer funds into mule accounts and withdraw the cheated money through ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) machines and other banking channels.

The case came to light following a complaint from a Sagarpur resident who reported receiving calls and messages from unknown persons impersonating bank officials in December 2025.

She was persuaded to click on a malicious link sent via an online messaging application. Subsequently, she received SMS alerts about a loan of Rs 8.33 lakh being processed on her credit card and unauthorised transactions amounting to Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3.3 lakh. She denied authorising any such transactions, following which a case was registered.

Police found that the accused were operating from areas near Jamtara in Jharkhand and frequently shifting locations between Jharkhand and West Bengal to evade arrest.

Coordinated raids led to the apprehension of three accused from the Nirsa area of Jharkhand's Dhanbad district while they were allegedly calling and targeting victims. The fourth accused was arrested from Hooghly in West Bengal.

During the operation, police seized 10 mobile phones, 13 SIM cards, clothing allegedly used during ATM withdrawals and digital evidence, including malicious APK files, phone data, Excel sheets containing bank details and transaction messages.

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Preliminary interrogation revealed that different members had specific roles, including procuring APK files and mule accounts, making calls to victims, handling bank accounts and withdrawing cash, police said.

Further investigation is underway.