Bank accounts involving crores linked to several states
PANAJI
The Goa Police Cyber Crime sleuths have arrested two persons in separate cases of ‘digital arrest’ frauds, in which victims were duped of Rs 25.5 lakh and Rs 97 lakh respectively.
In both cases, the accused impersonated officials of TRAI and CBI over WhatsApp, and coerced victims into transferring large sums of money by falsely accusing them of being linked to illegal activities such as money laundering and human trafficking.
In the first case, the Cyber Crime Police Station arrested a Bengaluru man in large-scale cyber fraud amounting to Rs 25.50 lakh.
Details shared by Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crimes) Rahul Gupta stated that the user of three Whatsapp numbers impersonating as TRAI and CBI officers, threatened the complainant from Vasco of digital arrest and coerced him into settling the alleged case by transferring the whopping amount through RTGS transaction.
“The accused threatened the complainant that his Aadhar card is being used and linked with money laundering activities, hence he is placed under Digital arrest... The accused persons cheated the complainant by impersonation using computer sources,” the officer said.
The SP further stated that based on investigation and financial analysis, a suspect was identified, after which a team was sent to Bengaluru, wherein S Rakesh was arrested.
“During investigation, based on technical and financial analyses, it is revealed that the accused person had taken fraudulent money in his bank account, which is involved in 22 fraudulent activities / criminal cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha and Karnataka including Goa, involving total fraudulent amount of Rs 11,33,56,438,” he added. The accused has been sent to police custody.
The second case saw the arrest of Surat-based Arhasad Aiyyub Shaikh, aged 23 years for duping his victim, hailing from Tiswadi taluka, to the tune of Rs 97 lakh. “In this case, the accused’s bank account is involved in fraudulent activities / criminal cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Goa involving a total fraudulent amount of Rs 1,20,57,047,” the SP said.
