Puri, Mar 6: Puri Police have busted an interstate cyber fraud racket that operated across Balasore, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, cheating victims of nearly ₹1 crore under the pretext of providing business opportunities.

The breakthrough came during a special police drive, “Operation Kavach,” launched to crack down on cyber criminals. Acting on intelligence, the Puri Cyber Police Station arrested three accused involved in the scam.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Ahmed Topan from Tamil Nadu, Abdul Aziz Sheikh from West Bengal, and Sushanta Kumar Parida from Balasore.

According to police, the accused used fake SIM cards and multiple bank accounts with no transaction limits to carry out the fraud. They allegedly used more than 80 SIM cards to contact victims and run the operation.

Investigations revealed that the fraudsters operated anonymous bank accounts under the name of a company called “Speeding Exim”, through which the defrauded money was transferred.

During the operation, police seized 15 ATM cards, 15 SIM cards, 6 mobile phones, and 7 cheque books from the accused.

Police officials said that several other individuals may also be involved in the racket, and further investigation is currently underway.