‘Digital arrest’ fraud: 3 from A’bad held for extorting 11.4 crore from victims
Ahmedabad: The Centre of Excellence in Cybercrime in Gandhinagar busted a gang that allegedly extorted over Rs 11.42 crore from victims by posing as govt officials and carrying out "digital arrests" through WhatsApp video calls. The accused, arrested from Ahmedabad, allegedly impersonated officers of central regulatory and investigative agencies to dupe citizens by threatening them with false criminal cases. The arrested accused were identified as Kashyap Belani, Dinesh Libachia and Dhaval Mewada, all residents of Ahmedabad.
According to investigators, the scammers pretended to be national agency personnel when they called or messaged victims on WhatsApp. They asserted that a court ordered an investigation by the CBI, RBI, SEBI, and TRAI since the victim's Aadhaar-linked mobile number was utilized in illegal operations.
The callers would then say that their "life was in danger" and that "an FIR was already filed," warning the victims not to speak to anyone or leave their houses.
The victims were coerced into transferring funds into several bank accounts created in the name of a charitable trust and threatened with arrest and prosecution.
According to police officials, the suspects subsequently reportedly transferred the funds to cyber syndicates based in other locations. Ten cell phones, four debit cards, three laptops, and a rubber stamp were taken away by the police.
Eleven such offences were registered nationwide, including in Telangana, Mumbai, and Coimbatore, according to an investigation into linked accounts on national cyber portals. The total reported fraud amount exceeded Rs 18 crore. The defendants were charged with forgery, criminal intimidation, and cheating.
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