In a week-long operation, the crime branch dismantled eight cyber crime modules and arrested 12 individuals across four states for orchestrating online scams that conned victims of over Rs2.6 crore.
The accused were involved in a variety of digital crimes, including digital arrest scams, romance scams, and online investment frauds. Special CP (Crime) Devesh Srivastava tasked the cyber cell with tracing the perpetrators via complaints recorded on the National Cyber Crime Portal.
A team led by ACP Anil Sharma analyzed money trails, conducted technical and human surveillance, and simultaneously raided multiple cyber modules. The operation also targeted individuals facilitating mule bank accounts, where a person allows criminal gangs to park illicit money in their account for a fee. Police have secured multiple liens and initiated refunds to victims through court orders.
Key arrests and recoveries include:
Pali, Rajasthan – Mahendra Kumar Vaishnav, Vishal Kumar, Shyam Das arrested in a digital arrest scam; Rs42.49 lakh defrauded, Rs7.08 lakh recovered.
Agra, Uttar Pradesh – Devender Kumar and Shivam alias Ashu arrested in a romance and investment scam; Rs40.27 lakh lost, Rs2.49 lakh refunded.
Jalandhar, Punjab – Anil arrested for providing mule bank accounts to syndicates.
Una, Himachal Pradesh – Naman Puri arrested for digital arrest scam; Rs30 lakh defrauded, Rs11 lakh lien secured.
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh – Mohammad Parvez arrested in online investment fraud; Rs33.9 lakh involved.
Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh – Deepak Saini and Mudit Arora arrested for stock market scam via Instagram/WhatsApp; Rs29.7 lakh defrauded using 11 bank accounts.
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh – Mehvish Akhtar arrested in a share market investment scam; Rs31 lakh stolen.
Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh – Neelesh Kumar arrested for fake stock market investment; Rs26.95 lakh defrauded, Rs1.20 lakh lien secured.
In total, 87 complaints related to these scams were filed on the NCR Cyber Crime Portal. DCP (Crime) Aditya Gautam confirmed that the investigation continues to trace remaining accomplices and recover further funds.
