Over 10K lost over Rs 100 cr to cyber frauds in past year

In what appears to be a record of sorts, over 10,000 persons fell prey to cyber fraudsters, losing over a whopping Rs 100 crore in the city in the past year.

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The Commissionerate Police was able to recover almost Rs 11 crore of the duped amount with the arrest of five masterminds.

Padma Bhushan awardee $1-billion worth Vardhman Group CMD SP Oswal was among the victims, who alone had lost Rs 7 crore in the country’s one of the biggest cyber frauds reported so far, Commissioner of Police (CP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal has said.

The Ludhiana Commissionerate Police had cracked Oswal’s case within 18 days with the arrest of two main suspects and recovery of Rs 5.25 crore, which was also a national record in cybercrimes.

Registering a sudden and unprecedented spurt in the cybercrime, the Commissionerate Police had received as many as 10,149 complaints alleging cyber frauds and reporting a loss of a staggering sum of Rs 100.12 crore between January 1 and December 31, 2024.

Acting swiftly, the police registered 38 cases involving cyber fraud to the tune of Rs 22.38 crore, of which four cases have been traced with the arrest of five criminals so far. A sum of Rs 6.57 crore, eight mobile phones, nine SIM cards, 14 cheque and passbooks and 14 banking cards have also been recovered from the arrested fraudsters. Besides, the police received 10,111 complaints of cyber frauds in which the complainants reported loss of Rs 77.74 crore during the past year. While 6,145 complaints have been disposed of following the recovery of Rs 4.24 crore, over 300 WhatsApp accounts of the criminals and over 100 fake Instagram and Facebook accounts were traced during the investigations.

“The remaining 3,966 complaints of cybercrimes are pending investigation and we are working hard to crack all genuine cases of fraud through our cyber experts,” the Ludhiana top cop told The Tribune on Monday.

Sharing the modus operandi of criminals and how the country’s biggest cyber fraud was cracked in a record time and recovery, Chahal said it was on August 27 last that Oswal first received a voice call from a mobile number and the caller introduced himself as TRAI officer, threatening to disconnect his mobile connection.

The caller further instructed the octogenarian business tycoon to press 9 to continue the services but the call got disconnected.

“After some time, I received a WhatsApp call from another number and the caller posed himself as a CBI officer from the Mumbai office,” Oswal had told the police.

The caller told Vardhman Group owner that he has opened a fake bank account in Canara bank and a case has been registered against him in the CBI. “Now, your case is being transferred to the ED,” Oswal was further threatened while putting him under digital arrest through a Skype video call for an initial 24 hours.

“Almost 25-30 calls were exchanged between the criminals and Oswal with each call duration ranging between as less as 19 seconds and as much as 45 minutes in three days,” investigations have revealed.

Interacting in Hindi dialect, the callers did not demand any specific amount of money but kept on demanding cash to settle the case for three days continuously.

Chahal, who himself supervised the investigations, said it was on August 28 that the textile industry magnate fell into the trap and he transferred initial funds to the bank accounts of the callers.

Oswal paid Rs 7 crore to two different accounts provided by the fake CBI officers in five separate instalments on August 28 and 29.

It was on August 30 late evening that Oswal first realised that he was cheated and approached the cybercrime police station in Ludhiana.

“We launched a sustained investigation and cracked the case in 18 days by following leads from a bank account and mobile numbers with the help of our Assam counterparts,” Chahal said.

He said Atanu Choudhary and Anand Choudhury, both of Guwahati, have been arrested and seven other gang members, including two women, have been named in the case. “We recovered Rs 5.25 crore in this case, which was also a national record in cybercrimes,” Chahal shared.

The accused included former banker Rumi Kalita, Nimmi Bhattacharjee of Guwahati, Rintu, Sanjay Sutradhar, Zakir, Alok Rangi and Gulam Mortuza.

Failed bizman, ex-banker turn criminals

They were no hardened or experienced criminals but were first-timers. They had duped none else but $1-billion worth Vardhman Group CMD SP Oswal, a Padma Bhushan awarded, of Rs 7 crore in the country’s one of the biggest cyber frauds reported so far.

Investigations have revealed the modus operandi of how the country’s leading textile manufacturer was first put into digital arrest for 24 hours before extorting Rs 7 crore from him.

Of the two arrested suspects, Atanu Choudhury was a failed businessman who had resorted to crime to overcome his financial losses, and his accomplice Anand Choudhury was a worker in a pharmacy store. “One of the masterminds was Rumi Kalita, a former bank employee,” the CP said.

Stay alert, report fast: CP

Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal has advised the public to stay alert and report any scam to the local police or on national portal immediately to help the police to catch hold of criminals. “Never share personal identification information over the telephone or the Internet to any unknown person unless you know who you are speaking to,” Chahal urged the residents, adding that if an unsolicited financial offer sounds suspicious, it is usually a scam.

DGP pats back

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav has awarded DG’s commendation disc to the cybercrime team of the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police for busting the inter-state cyber fraud gang involved in Oswal’s case with a record recovery and arrests.