IBNS-CMEDIA: Inspired by Netflix’s hit thriller Money Heist, a gang in Delhi pulled off a massive online scam worth ₹150 crore, styling themselves after the show’s iconic characters, media reports said.
The group also allegedly duped people of another ₹23 crore through online investment fraud.
The Delhi Police have arrested three key members- Arpit, Prabhat Vajpayee, and Abbas- who reportedly used screen names like “Professor,” “Amanda,” and “Freddy” to conceal their real identities and evoke the drama of the Spanish series, mdia reports said.
According to investigators, Arpit, a lawyer by profession, assumed the alias Professor; Prabhat, a computer science postgraduate, went by Amanda; and Abbas took on the name Freddy.
The gang created dozens of social media and WhatsApp groups posing as expert stock market advisors. They attracted investors by promising high returns and initially offered small profits to gain their trust.
Once victims invested larger sums, their accounts were abruptly blocked, and attempts to withdraw funds were met with threats and deceit. Police said over 300 people across India were defrauded using this method.
The gang operated from luxury hotels, using only mobile phones and laptops, constantly shifting bases between Delhi, Noida, and Siliguri to evade detection.
In multiple raids across Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, police recovered 11 mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 12 bank passbooks and chequebooks, 32 debit cards, and extensive digital evidence, including WhatsApp chats and transaction screenshots.
An analysis of the gang’s financial trails and call logs revealed links extending to Noida and Guwahati, with possible involvement of Chinese cyber operatives. Investigators suspect a larger international network coordinating online fraud operations from abroad.
So far, police have confirmed that the same group siphoned off an additional ₹23 crore through parallel online scams.
“The accused were inspired by Money Heist and even used its terminology and character names to plan their operations. Their network had international links, which we are tracing,” said a senior Delhi Police officer.
The search continues for other gang members and their foreign counterparts, as authorities deepen their probe into what they describe as one of the most sophisticated online investment frauds in recent years.
