Delhi Police have dismantled a cyber fraud racket in which four individuals allegedly posed as Axis Bank customer-care officials to swindle a credit-card holder of ₹1,19,837, officials said on Thursday, 24 September 2026. The accused were arrested after a months-long technical and financial investigation coordinated by the North District cyber unit.

How the Fraud Unfolded

The case came to light after complainant Yash Sharma received a call on 16 July from a person allegedly posing as an Axis Bank credit-card official. The caller claimed an annual maintenance charge (AMC) of ₹2,499 was due on his account and, when Sharma sought its cancellation, told him a follow-up call would come from the bank's customer-care department.

A second call soon followed from a number designed to mimic Axis Bank customer care. The caller directed Sharma to download the CheQ application, claiming it was required to cancel the AMC plan and issue a replacement card. Sharma was then allegedly instructed to make three UPI payments — ₹2,538.81, ₹58,647.68, and ₹58,647.68 — totalling ₹1,19,834.17. The accused also provided a fake service-request number and assured the victim his new card would be activated within four hours and delivered within two days.

When no card arrived, Sharma contacted the genuine Axis Bank customer-care line on 17 July and was told no such request existed in the bank's system. He immediately blocked his card and filed a complaint through the Cyber Crime Portal. An e-FIR was subsequently registered at PS Cyber North under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The Investigation Trail

A dedicated team operating under DCP North District Niharika Bhatt conducted technical and financial analysis of call-detail records, mobile numbers, Google account data, UPI transactions, and beneficiary bank accounts. The probe traced the transaction trail to a Kotak Mahindra Bank account linked to Prince Kumar, which showed suspicious transactions exceeding ₹12 lakh within five to seven days.

Investigators suspect the accused used the 'Indy Number' application to generate virtual phone numbers resembling official bank customer-care lines, lending a veneer of legitimacy to their calls. Funds were routed through CheQ to obscure the money trail across multiple UPI hops.

Arrests and Accused Profiles

Prince Kumar, 20, was the first to be arrested, from Aligarh on 15 September. His interrogation led police to Vishal Tomar, 21, and Vishal Raghav, 27, both also from Aligarh. A fourth accused, Sanjay Verma, 40, of Uttam Nagar, was subsequently arrested. Police said Verma had previously worked at a call centre in Noida and allegedly learned the modus operandi of impersonating bank officials there.

Eight mobile phones were recovered from the accused. Technical analysis of one device reportedly linked it to 32 other complaints, suggesting the racket may have operated far beyond a single victim. The network allegedly operated on a role-divided basis — members specialised in arranging bank accounts, procuring SIM cards, and withdrawing money through ATMs in exchange for commissions.

Wider Network Still Under Probe

Police said the search is underway for two additional alleged associates identified only as Bobby and Avtar. Investigators are working to trace the complete financial trail, identify further victims, and establish the roles of other suspected network members. Notably, the scale of suspicious transactions in a single linked account — over ₹12 lakh in under a week — points to a high-velocity operation that likely targeted multiple individuals simultaneously.

This comes amid a broader national pattern of bank-impersonation frauds leveraging virtual number apps and third-party UPI tools to bypass traditional fraud filters. The involvement of a former call-centre employee underscores the insider-knowledge dimension that makes such schemes particularly difficult for ordinary users to detect. With two suspects still at large, the investigation remains active.