Chandigarh, Punjab Police on Friday claimed to have exposed and dismantled a transnational cybercrime syndicate with the arrest of 10 people, an official statement said.
The operation was executed meticulously to dismantle the criminal gangs involved, police said.
Authorities have traced the organised syndicate to a sophisticated and fast-growing international network operating from Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, and Myanmar. This network has now spread across India and pose a serious threat to the country’s digital security, an official statement said.
The accused, who used to claim they were CBI, TRAI and officials of other central agencies, used devices known as SIM boxes, which can generate a number of interactive voice response calls per day by converting internet-based calls into local mobile calls, thus bypassing telecom tracking.
“Each device called SIM boxes can make more than 2 lakh IVR calls a day…Victims are then asked to connect via video call, where fake police station setup is shown and money is extorted in the name of fake case,” it said.
Investigations began after a woman lodged a complaint regarding a fake digital arrest that led to a loss of ₹1.01 crore.
Ten people have been arrested so far from locations including Ludhiana and Meerut. The scam involved digital impersonation and digital arrest, operating unregistered SIM box for carrying out calls and cross-border online money transfers, police said.
The accused are aged between 19-35 years, with most of them in their mid 20s. More than ₹36.98 lakh has been frozen across various bank accounts linked to the accused, they added.
The case was registered last month based on the complaint of a Chandigarh woman, who’s husband is a late Brigadier. She stated that on July 11 she received a voice call from a mobile number followed by a WhatsApp video call from another number.
As part of the “digital arrest scam”, the caller, posing as a CBI officer named “Sunil,” falsely informed her that a mobile number and an ICICI Bank account, allegedly opened using her Aadhaar details, were involved in a money laundering investigation.
The caller shared forged documents bearing Government of India stamps and a fake bank passbook via WhatsApp, to gain her trust.
Fearing legal consequences, the woman was coerced into transferring her entire life savings amounting to more than ₹1 crore into multiple accounts claimed to be for “safe custody.”
During investigations police found that the mobile number was activated in Ludhiana, Punjab while its associated International Mobile Equipment Identity number was linked to approximately 180 SIM activations, indicating systematic misuse of telecom infrastructure.
Many of these SIMs were found to be operational in Meerut and Hapur in Uttar Pradesh. The WhatsApp number was activated in Mizoram.
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