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Seven held in ₹58 crore ‘digital arrest’ case; fraudsters used over 6,500 mule accounts
Seven held in ₹58 crore ‘digital arrest’ case; fraudsters used over 6,500 mule accounts
Mumbai, The Maharashtra police, investigating the country’s biggest ‘digital arrest’ case involving the siphoning of ₹58 crore, have arrested seven persons linked to the scam, officials said on Friday.
Maharashtra Cyber, the nodal agency for combating cybercrime in the state, has uncovered that those behind the digital arrest used more than 6,500 mule accounts distributed across 13 layers, opened in the names of shell companies, to launder the looted money, an official said.
A case was registered by the Maharashtra Cyber recently after a 72-year-old businessman from Mumbai approached them with a complaint about being digitally arrested and losing money.
Digital arrest is a growing form of cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials or personnel of government agencies and intimidate victims through audio/video calls. They hold the victims hostage and put pressure on them to pay money.
In the septuagenarian’s case, the fraudsters orchestrated fake court proceedings and police interrogations over video calls, tricking him into transferring ₹58.13 crore over 40 days, wiping out his life savings, he said.
The seven persons arrested by Maharashtra Cyber are directly linked to the cross-border fraudulent financial network, the official said.
These individuals either opened or operated mule accounts in their names, received the proceeds of the crime in the initial layers of transactions to facilitate fund movement or sourced or managed the accounts for the syndicate, he said.
The arrested persons have been identified as Sheikh Shahid Abdul Salam , Jafar Akbar Sayyed , Abdul Nasir Abdul Karim Khulli , Arjun Fojiram Kadwasara , Jetharam Rahinga Kadwasara , Imran Ismail Sheikh and Mohammed Naved Sheikh .
Nearly ₹3.5 crore has been frozen by the investigators so far, while efforts are being made to trace the mastermind. The role of the branch manager of the victim’s bank is also under investigation to determine possible negligence or complicity in the fraudulent transfers, he said.
According to the complainant, he had received a call from an international number, with the caller claiming to be an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and alleging misuse of the senior citizen’s mobile number.
The call was later transferred to a person claiming to be from the Mumbai crime branch, who falsely accused the victim of involvement in money laundering, the official said.
Through video calls, the man was threatened with arrest and deceived into transferring ₹58.13 crore.
Citing the investigations into the technical and financial aspects, the official said the cybercriminals used VPNs , TOR networks, and over 6,500 mule accounts distributed across 13 layers, opened in the names of shell firms to launder the money.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
