Mumbai News: CBI Busts Digital Arrest Scam Ring; 4 Arrested For Extorting ₹7.67 Crore From Victim

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested four persons, including two from Mumbai in connection with their alleged involvement in a digital arrest case wherein the victim was digitally detained for over three months by cyber-criminals impersonating as personnel of various law enforcement agencies. During this period, the victim was extorted 42 times, totally amounting to Rs 7.67 crores.

"The CBI has been adopting a multi-pronged approach in investigating Digital Arrest cases, with a special emphasis on dismantling the infrastructure behind such offenses. In recent months, the CBI has registered multiple cases of Digital Arrests. In this context, the CBI took over the Digital Arrest case on the request of the Government of Rajasthan, earlier registered at Cyber Police Station Jhunjhunu," said a CBI official.

According to the sources, the complainant had received a call in October 2023, in which the caller introduced himself as an official of TRAI. The caller stated that a cybercrime had taken place through another mobile number which was issued using documents of the complainant. Thereafter, the complainant kept receiving calls where callers posed as a CBI officer, ED officer, and Mumbai police officer.

In the name of digital verification, the complainant was asked to deposit money, which the complainant did 42 times from October 2023 to January 2024, and paid nearly Rs 7.67 crore. The complainant was also told by the scammers that all her money would be returned to her after the case against her was settled by the Supreme Court. The initial probe carried out by the Rajasthan police had revealed that nearly 200 bank accounts were used by the scammers as beneficiary accounts.

On the request of the Rajasthan government, the case was handed over to the CBI for further investigations last year. Upon taking over the case, the CBI conducted an in-depth investigation involving extensive data analysis and profiling. CBI employed advanced investigative techniques to identify the perpetrators. Based on the leads generated during the investigation, the CBI conducted extensive searches recently, across twelve locations in Moradabad and Sambhal in UP, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Krishnanagar in West Bengal, leading to the arrest of four individuals involved in this highly organized crime syndicate.

Substantial material was recovered during these searches, including bank account details, debit cards, cheque books, deposit slips, and digital devices/ evidence. The arrested individuals were produced before the Competent Court and have been remanded to five days of police custody.