The Nagpur cyber police probing a "task fraud" have unearthed a transaction involving the transfer of crime money to a Chinese individual through cryptocurrency and arrested six men from Mumbai, Gujarat and Rajasthan, a senior official said.

Three of the six arrested men hail from Mumbai and suburban Nallasopara and the others from Rajasthan and Surat in Gujarat.

The police seized 19 debit and credit cards, nine mobile phones, a laptop, and cash worth Rs 7.87 lakh. Additionally, the police have frozen Rs 37.26 lakh from the bank accounts of the accused individuals, the official said on Saturday.

On the modus operandi of such a crime, Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber) Archit Chandak at a press conference said fraudsters employ different teams to handle various tasks, including an IT team to monitor transactions and a banking team to facilitate their activities.

The fraud involves promise of money for performing tasks like liking videos and giving reviews for products. Later, the fraudsters lure the targeted individuals with "prepaid" tasks. They keep on increasing the fees and the victims keep paying the amounts expecting higher returns till they realise they have been cheated.

"The task fraud involves a systematic process consisting of three key steps- trust building, laying trap and treachery. Cyber criminals first entice individuals with tasks promising lucrative monetary rewards.

"In the second stage, they set a trap wherein they win the victims' trust over a month and persuade them with prospects of an elevated profile in exchange for various fees. This ultimately leads to the third step- treachery- wherein the accused absconds with the money and cuts off all communication with the victim," said Chandak.

He said the modus operandi resembles the operations of corporate entities.

"These criminals employ different teams to handle various tasks, including an IT team to monitor transactions and a banking team to facilitate their activities," the official said.

While conducting probe into a complaint lodged by a Nagpur-based chemical engineer, the police got a breakthrough when they traced the money trail to Meet Vyas, one of the arrested men, who had transferred the funds to a Chinese individual using cryptocurrency, Chandak said.

The police arrested Akash Tiwari and Ravi Verma from Mumbai, Santosh Mishra from Nallasopara, Meet Vyas from Surat, and Ankit Tater and Arvind Sharma from Rajasthan.

Further investigation is underway to bust the entire criminal network and any potential international connections, a police official said.

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