As many as twelve people, including two Chinese nationals, have been arrested for their involvement in the running of multi-level marketing (MLM) and for pushing malware through malicious mobile applications (apps) in the national capital.
The arrested Indian accused have disclosed that two Chinese nationals, Yangqing Zhang aka Jonathan and Bao Peng aka Eric, are the main kingpins of this criminal conspiracy to cheat and defraud Indian citizens and hack into their devices through malicious mobile Apps, according to the Delhi Police press release. The Delhi Police said that these two accused are likely to be operating from a foreign location outside India. “They launched this ‘online scheme’ to induce and cheat a maximum number of people by promising lucrative returns based on a multi-level marketing model. In the garb of this scheme, they designed and circulated malware to illegally capture the personal data of unsuspecting people for illegitimate purposes,” the Delhi Police said.
They also created mega social media influencers in a clandestine manner, by promising cash incentives for ‘follows’ and ‘likes’, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
This comes after Delhi Police’s Cyber Crime Unit (CyPAD) took note of various WhatsApp messages getting circulated, wherein the recipients were being induced and enticed to download an App through the link given in the WhatsApp messages.
The inducement was regarding daily commission earning of up to Rs 3000 in less than 30 minutes of time spent on the App. The police said that analysis of the money trail revealed that the amount was being routed to various Indian bank accounts.
