From phishing to digital arrest, police nab six for fraud

In view of the new emerging crimes, the West District teams of Delhi Police have unearthed multiple cybercrime cases, including digital arrest, extortion, work-from-home scam and phishing with the arrest of six individuals, officials said on Thursday.

In the first incident, an interstate cyber-fraud syndicate involved in digital arrest scams was busted with the arrest of two accused persons, Shiva (19) and Punit Kumar alias Sahil (22), from Faridabad, Haryana.

The action was followed by a complaint by a lady on July 8 about fake WhatsApp video call from a person impersonating a police officer, who coerced her into transferring Rs 11,75,228 on the pretext of a “money laundering investigation”.

A team traced the technical leads and arrested both accused from Harijan Basti, Ballabhgarh, Faridabad. Investigation revealed that both had opened and operated mule bank accounts used for transferring the cheated amount.

The second fraud involved work-from-home job scam and a person named Ankit Sonkariya (19) was arrested in this regard from Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The action was followed by a complaint from a lady who reported of being duped of Rs 2,74,520 after being promised money for reviewing places on Google Maps.

A team conducted raids at Udaipuria village, Jaipur, and apprehended the accused. Investigation revealed that he was operating a bank account used for receiving and distributing the cheated funds on commission basis.

The third incident involved a malicious APK file in which a syndicate was dismantled with the arrest of Lavlesh Kumar (22) and Harbhajan (24), both from Aligarh, UP.

The action was prompted by a complainant from Gurjit Singh, who was cheated of Rs 16,52,000 after installing a fake BSES meter verification APK file. Investigation revealed that Rs 6 lakh was routed through mule accounts of the arrested accused.

A team conducted raids in Gurugram, Noida, and Aligarh and apprehended both accused. The fraudsters were found to have opened multiple accounts in different banks for commission-based fraud operations.

The fourth incident involved a sextortion racket where a cyber-stalker was arrested for recording and leaking private videos of a woman to extort Rs 3 lakh.

The complainant reported that accused Gulpham Ansari (25) had created fake Instagram IDs and circulated her private videos to relatives and friends to threaten and blackmail her.

Based on technical surveillance, a team conducted a raid and arrested the accused from Ranhola Extension, Delhi.