Coimbatore city police bust Navi Mumbai-based gang that cheated many offering flesh trade

In a major operation, personnel attached to the cybercrime station of Coimbatore City Police busted a Navi Mumbai-based gang that had been cheating people on the pretext of offering flesh trade through a dating website.

In a major operation, personnel attached to the cybercrime station of Coimbatore City Police busted a Navi Mumbai-based gang that had been cheating people on the pretext of offering flesh trade through a dating website.

The police on Friday arrested seven members of the gang, who operated from an apartment building at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai, and seized 34 mobile phones, 36 sim cards, 19 debit cards, 12 bank passbooks, four cheque books, router and electronic gadgets.

The accused — A. Afzal Rahman (24), R. Karnan (24), S. Tamilarasan (23), A. Manikandan (22), M. Jeyasurya Pandian (25), V. Vignesh Veeramani (25) and S. Premkumar (33) — told other residents of the apartment that they were into import and export business. The police brought the seven men to Coimbatore after producing them before a court in Navi Mumbai and obtaining transit warrants. They were produced before a magistrate in Coimbatore on Sunday and were sent to judicial remand.

The cybercrime police were on the lookout for the accused after a college student from Coimbatore lodged a complaint against them in October 2022. According to the police, the complainant searched for female escort and massage services on dating website Locanto. He contacted a mobile number found in one of the advertisements that claimed of arranging women for flesh trade. The person who attended the call told him to make advance payments for the safety of the client, the women, and for other arrangements. Trusting the person, the complaint transferred him a total of ₹7.84 lakh.

The cybercrime police identified the holders of the bank accounts that were used for the cheating and traced the gang to Navi Mumbai.

“As of now, the cybercrime station has received only one complaint against the gang. We believe that many could have been cheated by the gang. But it went unreported by the people due to the nature of the service they looked for. The accused continued to cheat people due to the same reason,” said cybercrime Inspector P.A. Arun.

During the investigation, it was found out that the accused had also advertised that they were offering male escort service. They collected documents required for sim cards and bank accounts from men who had contacted them for the service. The police, with help of bank authorities, froze bank accounts used by the accused for cheating. The accounts had a total of ₹ 8.49 lakh.