In a rare instance, the cybercrime police in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have cracked a ‘digital arrest’ case, where the victim was cheated of ₹2.2 crore. The police have arrested five persons, including one based out of Dubai, and recovered ₹1.7 crore, $7700, and a high-end car from the accused.
The victim, based out of Kodagu, got a call in May 2024 from a person claiming to be from a courier company. He claimed that there was a parcel in the victim’s name with narcotics – MDMA crystals. The person instructed the victim to speak to a “crime branch official,” who came online on a WhatsApp call and threatened action against the victim for drug peddling.
The person said the victim has to pay up money to escape action. Frightened, the victim transferred ₹2,21,40,000 to the said account via RTGS. The accused called her again after a few days and asked for more money, tried to keep her in a ‘digital arrest’, threatening her with arrest if she came out of the house.
However, alarmed by this, the victim lodged a complaint with the Kodagu cybercrime police. The case was transferred to the cybercrime wing in the CID. Probing the case, CID sleuths found that the money cheated from the victim was laundered to 26 accounts. Based on this lead, police arrested four people, Mohammed Shaqib, Mohammed Ayan, Ahsan Ansari, and Solomon Raja, all hailing from Bengaluru. These four had acted as mules lending their accounts for the money to be laundered, sources said.
Police have also arrested Yusuf Seth, hailing from Dubai, in connection with the case. The entire ring was run from Dubai, and it was being investigated whether Yusuf Seth was the kingpin of the scam or whether there were others involved as well. Police have recovered ₹1.7 crore, $7,700 and a high-end car bought from the money cheated from the victim.
Investigations have revealed that the arrested are also linked to at least four other cases of the courier scam reported in the state. Further investigations are on to uncover more cases and recover money stolen in those cases as well.
