A phone screen locked for about 30 seconds. Behind it, Delhi Police say, an app sent nine to 12 fraudulent text messages. The person using the handset could earn ₹1 to ₹3 for redeeming a reward. Someone receiving one of those messages could lose more.
That is the mechanism investigators described in a case reported on November 1: an alleged fraud network that recruited phones to distribute fake traffic-challan, delivery-verification and reward messages. Five people were arrested. Police linked the network to 544 complaints involving more than ₹10 crore. Those are investigators’ figures, not a finding of guilt.
Days later, a separate Enforcement Directorate disclosure exposed another part of the cyber-fraud business: supplying the bank accounts, SIM cards, phones and logins needed to move money after a victim pays. Together, the cases show how a fraud can extend well beyond the person making the pitch. There is no established connection between the two networks.
The number led to a student’s phone
The Delhi investigation began with a man reporting an unauthorised ₹2.21-lakh credit-card transaction after following a purported traffic-challan link. His complaint became an e-FIR in November 2025. Police traced the sending number to Jabalpur, then found the reward application, Wingo Cash, on a school student’s handset. It had arrived through a WhatsApp group, according to the police account.
The investigation also moved beyond the text messages. The Times of India reported that the money trail reached an account at the National Bank of Kuwait. Police then examined how the rewards were funded. They said roughly ₹2 crore had been distributed to more than 41,000 application users in three days. That payout figure is separate from the losses alleged in the complaints.
Accounts came with the accessories
In its November 5 release, ED said it had arrested Roshan Fiaz and Ammar on October 30 in an investigation into laundering alleged proceeds from online fraud. Its case began with FIRs in Tamil Nadu and Cyberabad; investigators linked additional cases in Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal.
ED alleges that more than ₹400 crore in crime proceeds passed through a network of mule accounts and cryptocurrency transfers. It says funds obtained through job and investment pitches were split into smaller transfers, with portions withdrawn in cash or moved through crypto wallets.
The agency identified 31 accounts allegedly operated by Fiaz, recording more than ₹300 crore in debit and credit transactions. That is account activity, not an additional ₹300 crore to stack on top of the alleged proceeds. Ammar allegedly supplied accounts with the accompanying access: banking credentials, SIM cards, handsets and email IDs.
ED separately reported seizures of ₹14.5 lakh in cash and cryptocurrency valued at ₹3.26 crore, plus about ₹88.28 lakh frozen in bank accounts. These are different categories from the alleged fraud proceeds; the release does not establish that those amounts have been returned to victims. Both men were remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody. The investigation continues.
In one case, investigators followed a threatening text to a reward app. In the other, they followed payments to bundles of bank accounts and access credentials. The next unanswered question runs through both investigations: who else supplied the machinery, and where did the money finally stop?
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