A fashion designer and his sister, a music graduate and Mandarin language expert, were arrested by the Surat cybercrime police in connection with a digital investment scam in which a city-based engineer was cheated of Rs70 lakh.
The accused have been identified as Shraddha Gajbhiye (40), arrested from Hyderabad where she was employed with a private firm, and her younger brother Nilkanth Gajbhiye (35), who was apprehended from Nagpur. Both are natives of Nagpur.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Shraddha, who had worked with several international companies, was lured by the promise of hefty commissions offered by a Chinese national operating from Cambodia. Her role involved recharging mobile numbers used in digital scams. Police found that as many as 435 mobile numbers, linked to cyber frauds, were recharged through funds arranged by the accused. At least 34 FIRs across multiple states have been registered in connection with these numbers.
In the Surat case, the victim engineer received a social media link through which he was introduced to a woman identifying herself as Sheela Shetty. She lured him with promises of high returns on investment. The victim transferred Rs70 lakh in multiple transactions but later realised he had been duped when he was denied withdrawal of both the investment and the claimed profits.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cybercrime) Bishakha Jain said investigators traced a Delhi-based bank account through which money was transferred to a Nagpur account. “Further scrutiny revealed that funds from this account were used to recharge 435 mobile numbers operated by Chinese scam gangs,” she said.
Based on this lead, police identified and arrested Nilkanth, who admitted to recharging SIM cards worth Rs1.29 lakh on his sister’s instructions. He told investigators that the siblings jointly earned Rs43,000 as commission.
Subsequently, police tracked Shraddha to Hyderabad and arrested her. Investigations revealed that she holds a degree in music and a diploma in the Chinese language. While searching for employment on a job portal, she allegedly received an offer from a Cambodia-based company and worked there as a translator. During her stay, she reportedly came into contact with a Chinese cybercrime gang and later facilitated SIM recharges in India through her brother.
Further investigation is underway to trace the larger international scam network and identify additional victims.
