Bengaluru (PTI): 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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Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan, who was named by the government to join an all-party parliamentary delegation for the 'Operation Sindoor' diplomatic outreach, is reportedly set to skip the initiative.

The government included his name without consulting the Trinamool Congress, although the government had reached out to the MP directly, India Today quoted party sources as saying.

The former cricketer-turned-politician has conveyed that he will not be able to join the delegation.

According to the report, Pathan was invited to be part of the team led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is set to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as part of the government's diplomatic mission.

Objecting to the Centre's choice of MP to represent the Trinamool Congress, the party's National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioned, “How can the Union Government decide on the representative of Trinamool?” He added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have held discussions with the opposition to decide which representative a party will send.

Meanwhile, a senior Trinamool Congress leader pointed out that foreign policy comes under the Union government’s domain and it should take complete responsibility of such matters.

"We believe that the nation is above all, and we pledged our support to the Union government to take whatever action needed to protect our great nation. Our armed forces have made our nation proud and we are forever indebted to them. Foreign policy is entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it," the TMC leader said.

The government recently announced that seven all-party delegations will be sent to key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism.

A statement by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said, "The all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism."