Cops crackdown upon cyber fraud networks; 4,400+ rounded up under Operation CyHawk

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has rounded up more than 4,400 suspects and arrested or bound down 877 of them during a 48-hour crackdown against cyber fraud under Operation CyHawk, an official said on Friday.

The operation, executed in close coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Union Home Ministry, targeted cyber fraud networks, mule accounts, cash-withdrawal agents and illegal call centres operating across the national capital.

According to police, this marked a strategic shift from “reactive action” to “proactive disruption” of cybercrime modules.

A total of 4,467 individuals were rounded up for questioning, of whom 877 were either arrested or bound down based on technical analysis, financial trails and corroborative evidence, an official said.

Another 509 people were issued notices under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for their suspected links with cyber-fraud networks, he said.

Investigators have also identified financial linkages involving over Rs 1,000 crore that were allegedly moved through mule accounts connected to organised cyber syndicates operating from Delhi, Joint Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) Rajneesh Gupta said.

Police said the two-day operation also led to the registration of 360 fresh FIRs and yielded breakthroughs in 160 cybercrime cases.

More than 3,700 complaints lodged on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) were linked to identified mule accounts and suspicious mobile numbers during the exercise.

Police said several illegal call centres engaged in job frauds, investment scams, customer-care impersonation and tech-support deception were raided and neutralised under Operation CyHawk.

Digital devices, including mobile phones, laptops, hard drives, and SIM cards, financial ledgers, and other incriminating material were recovered. Further investigation is underway, police said.