Delhi police bust syndicate running digital arrest scam, three held

New Delhi [India], September 25 : Delhi Police Special Cell's IFSO Unit have arrested three suspects for their alleged involvement in a module responsible for providing, handling, and using mule/fake bank accounts in connection in "Digital Arrest fraud".
The accused were allegedly operating fake companies to siphon the proceeds of their crimes abroad.
On September 12, 2024, a complaint was filed at IFSO, Special Cell alleging that on the morning of September 9, 2024, she received a phone call wherein someone claimed to be an officer at the Customs Office, Mumbai Airport, Terminal 2. After confirming her identity, the caller informed her that customs officials had intercepted a parcel on September 6, 2024, containing 16 fake passports, 58 ATM cards, and 40 grams of MDMA, with her details listed as the sender. The caller further claimed that Mumbai Police had issued an arrest warrant against her, and she must surrender.
The fraudsters escalated the intimidation by asserting that a CBI investigation was underway and that her arrest was imminent. Till the pendency of physical arrest, she was put under "digital arrest" by keeping continuous surveillance through WhatsApp video calls. Over the course of these calls, different individuals posing as senior officers from the Mumbai Police, CBI and various law enforcement agencies, pressured her to transfer funds under the pretext of verifying her accounts to avoid money laundering charges. In total, she was defrauded of Rs55 lakhs. On the receipt of the complaint a case u/s 318(4)/308(2)/61(2)(4)/3(5) BNS & 66C/66D IT Act was registered and investigation taken up.

Through a detailed analysis of mobile numbers and bank accounts used by the suspects, investigators identified the proprietors of a fake company, Camellia Services Apartment LLP. With the aid of mobile and technical surveillance, the police traced and arrested three individuals: Prabhat Kumar, Rajesh Kumar (alias Raja), and Arjun Singh in Burari.
Prabhat and Rajesh were found to be the proprietors of Camellia Services Pvt. Ltd., which was used to funnel the defrauded funds. Passbooks, chequebooks, company banners, and other documents were seized. Arjun Singh had facilitated the opening of fraudulent bank accounts for the operation. During the investigation all the bank accounts wherein cheated amount was transferred. Out of the total cheated amount, Rs 20 Lacs were frozen in an HDFC bank account and an order to release the said amount to the victim has been obtained from the court.
The syndicate impersonated officials from the police, CBI, customs, and other government bodies. They would inform victims that parcels containing prohibited items had been intercepted, with their names listed as the sender. Initially, they threatened the victims with arrest and severe penalties, but later shifted to a more sympathetic tone, suggesting it could be a case of mistaken identity. To resolve the issue, they instructed victims to lodge a formal complaint and transfer their savings into specified accounts for "verification," falsely promising that the funds would be refunded after the verification process.