New Delhi: A key member of a transnational cybercrime syndicate targeting Japanese citizens has been arrested when he returned to India from the UAE, where he had fled after the CBI busted his illegal call centre in Noida, officials said Saturday. Dwibendu Moharana was intercepted at Bhubaneswar airport on his return to India, they said. His name had cropped up during the coordinated searches conducted on May 28 at 19 locations across Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, which led to the arrest of six operatives, CBI’s spokesperson said in a statement. Moharana had fled to the UAE from Bhubaneswar the next day after his call centre at Voip Connect Pvt Limited, Noida was uncovered, the spokesperson said.
“Investigations revealed that Moharana operated an illegal call centre involved in sophisticated social engineering and deception, impersonating support personnel from multinational companies to coerce Japanese victims into transferring funds under false pretenses,” the spokesperson said. Moharana was brought to Delhi on a transit warrant and produced before a special court which remanded him in three days of CBI custody for interrogation. The agency has so far arrested seven individuals in this case and filed charge sheets against all. The CBI had conducted the operation with close cooperation from the National Police Agency of Japan and Microsoft Corporation.