Telegram bot, fake IDs, foreign numbers: Delhi Police bust UPSC piracy racket
Delhi Police has busted a cyber fraud racket that allegedly extracted and sold UPSC study material through Telegram, arresting three people in the case, officials
Delhi Police has busted a cyber fraud racket that allegedly extracted and sold UPSC study material through Telegram, arresting three people in the case, officials said on Tuesday. The action followed a complaint from the director of a UPSC coaching platform, who alleged that a large part of his app's educational content had been illegally copied and put up for sale. Read Full Story Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said in a statement that more than 2,400 educational videos from the platform had been unlawfully extracted and uploaded on the messaging platform. Police said the case points to a wider operation involving fake identities, foreign virtual numbers, forged credentials and digital wallets used to hide the trail. According to police, the complainant, Sunil Kumar, launched his coaching platform around three years ago and now reaches more than four lakh students through social media and a dedicated mobile application launched in 2023.
The app hosts over 2,500 educational videos, including paid and free courses. Police said Kumar found on March 10 this year that a substantial portion of his copyrighted content had been leaked and was being sold online, causing financial and reputational losses. A case was registered at the Cyber Police Station in North district, after which a special team was formed. During the investigation, police traced several IDs and linked mobile numbers, some registered in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, suggesting attempts to conceal identities through foreign virtual numbers. Technical surveillance and analysis of IP logs led to the arrest of Yuvraj Singh, 21, from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh on June 5. During questioning, he allegedly confessed to extracting the study material with the help of a bot and selling it through Telegram channels, while receiving payments in his bank accounts, police said.
Further investigation took police to Faridabad in Haryana, where they arrested Niranjan Kumar Mandal, 23, on June 8. Police alleged that he had developed the Telegram bot used for extraction. Shubham Kumar Pandey, 28, was also arrested and is accused of providing logistical and internet support. Investigators found multiple bank accounts and digital wallets linked to the accused, with transactions worth around Rs 35 lakh, which police said indicated large-scale proceeds from the illegal sale of leaked educational content. Police said the accused used fake Telegram IDs, forged documents and anonymous digital wallets to avoid detection. They also suspect the group may have been involved in pirating and distributing study material from several other coaching institutes. Four mobile phones, a laptop, four SIM cards, two passbooks, a debit card and a Wi-Fi router were recovered, and further investigation is under way to identify other members of the racket and trace the wider network.
The BriefWire