New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested five people for allegedly being involved in a ‘digital arrest’ through which a retired Army officer was scammed of Rs 15 lakh. The five allegedly arranged the bank accounts to which the looted money was transferred. The callers who executed the scam are of Chinese origin, according to the police.
The veteran was told there was a court warrant in his name in connection with a money laundering case.
While there is no such thing as a ‘digital arrest’ under the law, the term is often used to describe a recent type of cyber fraud that begins with a video call from fraudsters posing as law enforcement officers to intimidate and scam individuals.
The victims are isolated and threatened with either a police case, warrant or a court warrant. Scammers even impersonate top officials from investigating agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. They also put the victim under video ‘surveillance’ during the entire time, a technique that has given this fraud the moniker ‘digital arrest’.
‘Possible link to 43 complaints on NCRP from various states’
In this case, the retired Army officer filed a complaint on 8 December on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), stating that he had received a call about a non-bailable warrant issued against him by a Mumbai court in connection with a money laundering case.
“He was put under Whatsapp video surveillance while the fraudsters pretended to investigate the case. He was asked by the accused to transfer Rs 15,00,000 from his Axis Bank account to a DBS account. The accused told him they would refund the amount with interest to his bank account the next day. The victim liquidated his fixed deposit to hand them the money,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP South West) Surendra Choudhary said.
The police followed the money trail and the DBS bank account holder was tracked down in Nagpur. Investigators said the account holder, Virendra Ravindraji Kamble, told them he was asked to open the account by another person from Nagpur.
“Digital footprints of the money trail were analysed and based on intelligence, raids were conducted in Delhi’s Paharganj area,” the DCP said. This led to the arrest of four accused, identified as Imran Quershi, Asad Qureshi, Dev Sagar and Javed.
According to investigators, the accused revealed they had been carrying out such fraud for the past five to six months. DCP Choudhary said 43 complaints lodged on the NCRP from various states have been found to be linked to this matter.
The accused told the police that one Abhishek Yadav had introduced them to digital arrest tactic. However, Yadav did not physically meet the other four men and only communicated on Whatsapp via an international number.
DCP Chowdhury said Abhishek Yadav tasked these men, particularly Asad and Imran Qureshi, with arranging bank accounts and buying SIM cards. These SIM cards were in the names of labourers and daily-wage workers. Yadav sent them their “remuneration” via UPI using “mule” bank accounts. “Sometimes, he also sent them cash through agents. They also got ‘commission’ through cryptocurrency USDT in their Binance account from unknown sources,” the officer said.
Yadav was arrested from Indore. Investigation revealed that he had come in contact with a Chinese firm on Telegram and started operating on its directions. DCP Choudhary said Yadav had managed to open hundreds of accounts through his “contacts”, information of which he then passed on to the Chinese firm through Telegram.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)