Bokaro police have arrested three youths of a seven-member gang of cyber criminals who allegedly stole money from Paytm virtual wallets of over 50 victims across the country.

Among the three arrested on Monday night, Neeraj Kumar Sharma, 24, was from Tundi of Dhanbad, and two, Khublal Mandal, 20, and Pintu Kumar Rana, 20, were from Giridih.

The police team led by Bokaro city DSP Gyan Ranjan also seized nine smartphones, three basic phones, 12 SIM cards, three ATM cards, one laptop, one bike and one UPS from the arrested trio.

Talking to the media on Tuesday, Bokaro superintendent P. Murugun said the arrested trio had accepted their involvement in the cyber fraud during police interrogation.

“They said they used to call up Paytm users in the guise of giving them exciting cashback offers and send them a link. As users clicked on the link, their phones were hacked and theirPaytm money transferred to the gang. Victims were from Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka, among others,” Bokaro city DSP Gyan Ranjan said.

SP Murugan said the arrested trio have been held under various Sections of the IPC, including 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forging of documents), 471 (using forged documents) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and various Sections of the IT Act including 66B (dishonestly receiving stolen computer resources or devices), 66C (dishonest use of electronic signature, password or other unique identification), 66D (cheating by impersonation using computer resources).

“Based on leads from the arrested trio, we will now arrest the four others in the gang,” Murugan said.

DSP Ranjan said the police had not yet calculated the amount of money stolen from Paytm wallets of victims. “Once we arrest the four, we will get a clearer picture,” he said.