In a significant bust, Thane Cyber Police arrested three men for orchestrating a sophisticated ‘digital arrest’ scam, defrauding a local resident of over Rs3.04 crore. The accused—Kishore Bansilal Jain (63), cooperative society chairman from Dadar; Mahesh Pavan Kothari (36), garment trader from Santacruz; and Dhaval Santosh Bhalerao (26), cosmetics businessman from Bhandup—were taken into custody on June 19.
The scam involved impersonation of government officials and psychological manipulation to coerce victims into transferring large sums. Initially, the victim was contacted by fraudsters claiming to be from a courier company, alleging seizure of a parcel in his name containing illegal items such as drugs, debit cards, and a Thai passport.
The con escalated when another gang member impersonated a CBI officer via WhatsApp video call, informing the victim that he was under “digital arrest” and demanded money transfers from his State Bank of India and Bank of India accounts for supposed “verification.”
Senior Police Inspector Prakash Warke, heading the investigation, said, “The victim was shown fabricated documents and pressured psychologically, creating fear and compliance.”
Investigations uncovered that Rs82.46 lakh of the stolen money was laundered overseas using cryptocurrency—specifically Tether (USDT), a stablecoin favored for its fast and semi-anonymous transactions. The accused transferred the funds by converting them into Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs), complicating the tracking process.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber), Parag Manere, revealed the fraud gang is linked to an international crime network leveraging advanced technology for scams. They used multiple bank accounts to layer stolen funds before converting them to cryptocurrency for cross-border transfers.
Police continue to investigate, aiming to uncover the full extent of the operation and other possible accomplices.
