Delhi Police nabs 12 in nationwide cyber fraud racket defrauding victims of Rs 2.6 crore

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested 12 members of a well-organised cybercrime network allegedly involved in digital arrest frauds, fake investment rackets and online romance scams, which defrauded victims of over Rs 2.6 crore, an official said on Friday.

The arrests came following a week-long coordinated operation, spanning Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, he said.

In one case in south Delhi, an elderly victim was defrauded of Rs 42.49 lakh after fraudsters, posing as police officials, falsely accused him of money laundering and coerced him into transferring funds. Three men were arrested from Pali, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, while Rs 7.08 lakh was recovered and refunded through court orders.

In Agra, Uttar Pradesh, two persons were arrested for allegedly defrauding a victim of Rs 40.27 lakh through an online romance and investment scam. The accused, police said, used social media to lure the victim with promises of marriage and high investment returns.

One of them, Devender Kumar, had opened multiple bank accounts to hide the source of ill-gotten money by doing a series of transactions. His associate Shivam alias Ashu was found involved in several criminal cases.

A separate team apprehended a key facilitator from Jalandhar, Punjab, who had supplied multiple mule bank accounts for cyber frauds. The accused, Anil, was found linked to earlier cases of similar nature registered in Punjab.

In another operation in Una, Himachal Pradesh, police arrested Naman Puri (26), who was allegedly part of a digital arrest scam where victims were conned by fake TRAI and police officials. The complainant had lost Rs 30 lakh, of which Rs 11 lakh has been recovered, police said.

In Meerut, Md Parvez was arrested in connection with an online investment scam that defrauded a teacher. Of Rs 33.9 lakh lost in the scam, Rs 1.75 lakh was recovered. Parvez allegedly handed over his bank account to an associate for commission-based fraudulent transactions.

Two more accused, identified as Deepak Saini and Mudit Arora, were nabbed from Saharanpur for duping an IT professional of Rs 29.74 lakh in a stock market investment fraud. They allegedly posed as SEBI and Morgan Stanley officials to convince the victim to invest in a fake AI-enabled trading platform, police said in an official statement.

In Kanpur, police arrested Mehvish Akhtar in connection with a share market scam involving multiple layered transactions amounting to Rs 31 lakh, while in Mahoba, Neelesh Kumar was held for a similar fake investment fraud of Rs 26.9 lakh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam said that over Rs 2.61 crore was involved in the frauds linked to the arrested accused, and technical surveillance and financial tracking were crucial in identifying their movements.