Bengaluru police bust Rs 12 Cr fraud targeting CRED

Bengaluru police have arrested four individuals, including an Axis Bank manager, for allegedly embezzling over Rs 12 crore from Dreamplug Paytech Solutions, according to a media report. Dreamplug operates fintech unicorn CRED.

According to a Times of India report, the arrested individuals are Vaibhav Pithadiya, an Axis Bank relationship manager based in Rajkot; Parmar Neha Ben Vipulbhai, a banking agent from Surat; Shailesh, an insurance agent from Rajkot; and Shubham, a commission agent from Rajkot.

The arrests were made following a complaint by Narasimha Vasanth Sastry, an executive from CRED.

For the uninitiated, members use CRED for a wide range of payments beyond credit card bills, with strong adoption of P2P UPI payments.

The fraud was uncovered on November 12 when Dreamplug executives detected unusual activity in their bank accounts. They found that Rs 12.2 crore had been fraudulently withdrawn from two Axis Bank accounts – a current account and a nodal account opened in 2021.

The report added that the fraudsters carried out 37 transactions over 14 days, between October 29 and November 11, transferring Rs 12.2 crore to multiple accounts across the country.

Entrackr has reached out to CRED and Axis Bank for details.

Based out of Bengaluru, CRED’s total revenue spiked by 66% year-on-year to Rs 2,473 crore. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the Kunal Shah-led firm has raised a total of $1 billion (Rs 7,775.20 crore) in funding across nine rounds.