New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested three alleged members of a cyber fraud syndicate involved in a digital arrest case in which a 71-year-old woman was duped of Rs 49 lakh, an official said on Thursday.
The arrests were made during coordinated raids in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, where the accused were frequently changing locations to evade police surveillance, he said.
The police arrested Arjun Saini, 20, Vimlesh, 19, and Mohd Abeed alias Mubashir, 20, all residents of Lucknow, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.
“Saini and Abeed had studied up to Class eight and Class 10 respectively, while
Vimlesh is pursuing a B.Sc degree, he said.
The accused had opened and supplied multiple mule bank accounts to a cyber fraud syndicate that impersonated police and government agencies to coerce victims into transferring large sums of money under the threat of fabricated legal consequences, the DCP said.
The gang allegedly used psychological intimidation and sophisticated digital deception to make victims believe they were under investigation, forcing them to send money to accounts controlled by the syndicate, he said.
The illicit funds were layered across several bank accounts and withdrawn quickly through ATMs, Gautam said, adding that the accused were paid to procure or operate these accounts.
Poor and unemployed youngsters were recruited to create a chain of mule accounts used to launder the proceeds of the fraud.
The Delhi Police, during coordinated raids in Delhi, Gurugram and Hisar, had earlier arrested Ravi, 19, Mandeep, 21, and Kaleem, 32, accused of running a digital arrest and investment fraud racket, they said.
A total of six accused have been held so far in the case, and two others have been
bound over during the investigation, they said.