Maharashtra Cyber police have busted a virtual arrest scam worth Rs 58.13 crore in Mumbai and arrested seven individuals in what is described as the largest such fraud in the country.
The accused duped a senior citizen, 72, from Mumbai, Maharashtra, of his life savings after one of them called him from an international number and posed as a TRAI officer. He told the elderly man that his mobile number was used to send illegal messages and transferred the call to another person impersonating a Mumbai Crime Branch officer. The latter then falsely claimed that the complainant's bank accounts were being used for money laundering.
#SupremeCourt takes suo motu cognisance of rising cases of Digital Arrest Scams.
The action was taken on a complaint received from a woman from Haryana, who alleged that scammers used forged Supreme Court orders to confine her in an alleged digital arrest.
The Court observed… pic.twitter.com/ULIxP4IPte
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They set up an elaborate fake police station and court proceeding through video calls. Other accused posed as police officials and court judges.
The fake police officer then told the victim that he must transfer the funds to a designated account to avoid a “digital arrest” and convinced him that the money would be refunded after a “verification procedure.” The gullible senior citizen, who was under psychological pressure, transferred a total of Rs 58,13,50,000 over a span of 40 days.
Technical and financial trail
Following a complaint, Maharashtra Cyber launched a probe into the fraud and pursued technical and financial trails. After examining Call Detail Records (CDR), Subscriber Detail Records (SDR), Customer Acquisition Forms (CAF), and Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDR) of the fraudulent numbers used to contact the victim, it was revealed that the calls originated from foreign IP addresses routed through VPNs and TOR networks.
The officials also delved into the banking transactions, KYC records, and statements of multiple linked accounts, which unearthed a complex network of over 6,500 money mule accounts spread across 13 layers. Most of them were current accounts opened in the names of shell companies, which were intended to avoid scrutiny into high-value transactions.
Soon, the cyber police tracked the end beneficiaries of several of these accounts, leading to the arrest of seven individuals. All of them were directly linked to the fraudulent financial network, having either opened or operated money mule accounts in their names, received proceeds in the initial layers of transactions, or facilitated fund movement by sourcing and managing such accounts for the syndicate.
Mastermind at large
The accused were identified as Sheikh Shahid Abdul Salam, 19, Jafar Akbar Sayyed, 33, Abdul Nasir Abdul Karim Khulli, 51, Arjun Fojiram Kadwasara, 52, Jetharam Rahinga Kadwasara, 35, Imran Ismail Sheikh, 22, and Mohammed Naved Sheikh, 26.
The police are yet to identify the mastermind of the scam. They are also looking into the involvement of the branch manager of the victim's bank to ascertain if there is potential negligence or complicity in the fraudulent transfers. |
