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Three held for ₹2.5-cr digital arrest fraud in Chandigarh
A case was registered on June 1 after the victim, Sumit Kaur, a resident of Sector 10A, Chandigarh, alerted the police
The cyber police station have arrested three persons for orchestrating an elaborate digital arrest scam to dupe an elderly woman of ₹2.5 crore.
A case was registered on June 1 after the victim, Sumit Kaur, a resident of Sector 10A, Chandigarh, alerted the police.
She said she received a call on May 3, with the caller claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The caller informed her that her SIM card had been misused in a criminal case, and she was named in an FIR. What followed was a calculated psychological assault.
In a series of high-pressure WhatsApp video calls, a person pretending to be a police officer told her that two arrest warrants had been issued against her in connection with a money laundering case involving the CEO of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal.
The scammers impersonated senior law enforcement officials, including a DIG of CBI and even CJI of the Supreme Court, to build credibility. Kaur alleged that she was made to take an “oath of secrecy” and told that her funds needed to be verified to prove her innocence.
Over the next few hours, she was manipulated into transferring around ₹2.5 crore into various bank accounts provided by the fraudsters.
During probe, police found that these accounts were fraudulently opened and operated by members of the cybercrime syndicate.
Following analysis of KYC documents, call detail records (CDRs), IP addresses and bank account transactions, the cyber crime team tracked the suspects across Uttar Pradesh.
On June 6, raids were carried out in Hathras and Agra, leading to the arrest of Dharmendra Singh, 28, a resident of Hathras and Ram Kisan Singh, 36, a resident of Agra. Both were found to have knowingly opened and leased out multiple bank accounts used in the scam.
On June 8, another raid was conducted at Budhanpur in Saharanpur, resulting in the arrest of Sakib, 24, who admitted to opening a firm and bank account in his name and allowing it to be used by his brother-in-law and associates for fraudulent transactions, in exchange for a 10% cut of the funds.
During interrogation, all three accused confessed to their roles in the racket. Police have obtained their custody to unearth the wider network involved in the scam.
Police believe the arrested trio is part of a larger organised network of cyber fraudsters operating across multiple states. Efforts are underway to trace the prime accused and recover the siphoned funds, they said.
