The Bengaluru Police have busted a Rs 854 crore cyber fraud scam and arrested six people who allegedly cheated thousands of victims across India on the pretext of an investment scheme, officials said on Saturday.

Out of the total cheated amount, Rs five crore had been frozen, they said.

The accused gang lured the victims through Whatsapp and Telegram. Initially, they were asked to invest smaller amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to 10,000 on the pretext that they would earn Rs 1,000 to 5,000 per day as a profit, a senior police officer said.

Thousands of victims invested money ranging from Rs one lakh to 10 lakh or more, he said.

The money invested by the victims was dumped into different bank accounts through online payments. However, after completing the investment process, when the victim tried to withdraw the amount, they never got any refund, he added.

Once the amount was collected, the accused diverted the consolidated money to mule accounts (related to money laundering), the officer said.

The total amount of Rs 854 crore was dumped into various online payment modes through crypto (Binance), payment gateway, gaming apps among others, he said.

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