The cybercrime cell of the Goa Police has arrested two residents of Assam in connection with a major inter-state cyber fraud case involving Rs1.4 crore. The accused have been identified as Ashadul Islam (24) and Yasmina Ahmed (32), both hailing from Nagaon district in Assam.
The case was registered following a complaint by a resident of Bicholim, who was allegedly cheated through a fake “digital arrest” scam. Cybercrime Superintendent of Police Rahul Gupta said the accused impersonated officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Supreme Court, using multiple WhatsApp numbers to threaten and coerce the victim into transferring Rs1.4 crore into various bank accounts.
After a detailed technical analysis of call records and digital communication between the fraudsters and the complainant, a special crime branch team tracked the suspects to Assam. The duo was subsequently arrested from Nagaon, Gupta said.
During interrogation, police found that Islam and Ahmed had previously been arrested by Assam Police in similar cyber fraud cases. “The same mobile phones were used in the Goa case as well. The seizures made earlier by Assam Police will now form part of the Goa police investigation,” Gupta added.
The superintendent further revealed that the same mobile numbers were linked to another ‘digital arrest’ scam complaint in Goa, involving a fraud amount of Rs63.5 lakh.
Investigations have shown that the accused operated multiple mobile numbers using common IMEI devices, which were connected to several cyber fraud complaints across different states. Police said the duo are key operatives in a larger cyber fraud network, and their arrest is expected to help crack multiple cases across the country.
