The Cyber Crime Branch police have arrested four individuals for their involvement in a scam orchestrated by Cambodia-based fraudsters, who defrauded a senior citizen of Rs1.26 crore by impersonating a CBI officer and the Chief Justice of India. The main accused subjected the victim to a fraudulent “digital arrest,” coercing him into transferring money to the accounts of those arrested.
The suspects—Mohammad Hussain Javid, Tarunsinh Vaghela, Brijesh Parekh, and Shubham Thakar—are all from the same city. Earlier this month, a scammer posing as a CBI officer contacted the victim, claiming that his bank account was implicated in money laundering and threatening him with a five-year jail sentence. The fraudster insisted that the victim could avoid arrest by cooperating with a supposed online investigation led by the Supreme Court.
Another scammer, impersonating the Chief Justice of India, convinced the victim to transfer Rs1.26 crore to verify that the funds were not linked to any criminal activity. Upon realizing he had been scammed, the victim reported the incident to the Cyber Crime Branch, which filed an FIR on October 7.
The fraudsters, operating from Cambodia, funneled the stolen money into dummy accounts, with three of the arrested suspects receiving Rs10 lakh each, later converted into cryptocurrency. Two additional suspects are still at large.
“Digital arrest” is a troubling form of cybercrime where victims are misled into believing they are under investigation for serious offenses such as money laundering or drug smuggling. The fraudsters maintain constant surveillance through video calls, coercing victims into transferring large sums of money.