Rourkela: In a major crackdown on an inter-state cyber fraud racket, the Odisha Police have arrested 14 individuals, including two bank employees, in Rourkela.

DIG Brijesh Rai said all the arrested persons are residents of Sundargarh district. They allegedly defrauded several unsuspecting people and conducted transactions through 28 bank accounts.

The gang’s primary operation involved procuring and managing mule bank accounts — accounts opened in the names of local residents, mostly from Rourkela and nearby areas — to facilitate large-scale cybercrime and money laundering within India and abroad.

Many of these accounts were opened with the tacit approval or negligence of complicit bank staff, bypassing standard Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. The accused held accounts in multiple banks across Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Delhi, and Bihar. Investigations have also revealed international links to Dubai (UAE) and Nepal.

These mule accounts were sold or rented to cybercriminals nationwide and used as pass-through channels to receive fraudulent proceeds from victims. The accounts also served to layer transactions, obscuring the money trail before the funds were siphoned off domestically or internationally for laundering. Each account was sold or rented for ₹8,000–₹10,000, with the proceeds shared among syndicate members.

A case (Rourkela CC and EO PS Case No. 17 dated August 9, 2025) has been registered under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2), 61(2), and 111(2)(b) of the BNS, read with Section 66-D of the IT Act.

Police seized a car, a bullet motorcycle, 30 Aadhaar cards, 10 PAN cards, 17 bank passbooks, four cheque books, a laptop, and 15 mobile phones from the accused.

Suspecting the involvement of more employees from different banks, further investigation is underway.