New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 80 locations across 16 states and Union Territories and arrested two people on Thursday as part of a major crackdown on cybercrime networks behind digital arrest scams, officials aware of the matter said.
The action followed the detection of a fraudulent website with a URL “deceptively similar” to that of the Supreme Court’s official website, allegedly used by fraudsters to target victims, the investigative agency said in a statement.
Digital arrest scam has emerged as one of the most pernicious forms of cyber-enabled extortion where victims are contacted by individuals impersonating police officers, central agencies investigators or judicial officials. Victims are threatened of being implicated in a criminal activity and coerced to make payments to avoid arrest or prosecution.
The raids were carried out by 60 special teams in Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur, Karnataka and Odisha, the CBI said.
“The searches were carried out as part of an ongoing investigation aimed at dismantling a targeted operational network involved in over 200 cases of digital arrest scams,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
The agency arrested two persons, identified as B Naresh from Chennai and Sanjib Saha from Kolkata, for their alleged involvement in setting up shell companies and opening mule bank accounts used to route and launder money obtained through the scams, the spokesperson said, adding that, “these accounts were used for laundering around ₹2 crore in suspected proceeds of crime.”
The CBI said, “The fraudsters allegedly used this fraudulently registered domain, deceptively similar to the official website of the Supreme Court of India, to deceive victims under the guise of digital arrest. Based on a complaint received from the Registry of the Supreme Court of India, CBI registered an FIR and commenced investigation into the matter.”
The agency leveraged advanced forensic tools and technical expertise to identify critical elements of the criminal infrastructure operating both within India and abroad.
“Investigation has revealed that the perpetrators uploaded forged and fabricated documents, including fake orders resembling those issued by courts and various law enforcement agencies, to lend credibility to their fraudulent activities,” the agency said.
During the searches, the CBI seized several incriminating documents, digital devices, mobile phones and records related to bank transactions. These are being examined as part of the investigation, it said.
CBI has also found evidence indicating that, in addition to Indian citizens, nationals of several other countries may have been defrauded by the same network, it said, adding that the concerned law enforcement agencies in those jurisdictions are being alerted through appropriate channels.
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