Malappuram police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old man allegedly involved in a massive online financial fraud network, with 51 complaints registered against him across 17 states in the country. The accused, S Ameer, a native of Njarakkal in Perinad, Kollam, was nabbed during a police raid at a lodge in Ponnani, initially in connection with illegal gambling.

A subsequent search led to the seizure of 26 bank passbooks, ATM cards, SIM cards, mobile phones, and chequebooks belonging to various individuals. Ameer was handed over to the Malappuram Cyber Police for further investigation.

On the instructions of District Police Chief R Vishwanath, a detailed probe was conducted under the supervision of Malappuram DCRB DySP Jayachandran and led by Cyber Crime Station Inspector I C Chitharanjan. Checks on the National Cyber Crime Portal revealed the extensive scale of his operations, with four of the 51 complaints originating from Kerala.

During questioning, Ameer confessed that he had been recruited via Telegram by a Dubai-based individual, who connected him with an agent from northern Kerala. Their network operated by renting bank accounts, SIM cards, and ATM cards from ordinary citizens on commission. These rented accounts were then used to receive proceeds from online scams.

Account holders were instructed to activate the Federal Bank’s ‘FedApp’ on their devices to facilitate fund transfers. Once the fraudulent money arrived, a Bitcoin slip would be sent from the Dubai contact, and the equivalent amount in Indian currency would be deposited into a designated account. The cryptocurrency was then transferred abroad, effectively laundering crores of rupees.

Following preliminary interrogation, Ameer was transferred to the Koratty Police in Thrissur in connection with a related case registered there.