T.N. Cyber Crime Wing arrests two men from Surat in ‘digital arrest’ scam

The Cyber Crime Wing of Tiruvallur police has arrested two men from Surat, Gujarat, for their alleged involvement in a ‘digital arrest’ scam. 

The Cyber Crime Wing of Tiruvallur police has arrested two men from Surat, Gujarat, for their alleged involvement in a ‘digital arrest’ scam. 

On December 17 last year, a victim of the fraud, hailing from Tiruvallur district, registered a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal alleging he was defrauded to the tune of ₹71 lakh. He received a WhatsApp video call at around 10:06 a.m. from a person clad in a police uniform, claiming he was an officer of the CBI.

The caller told the complainant that a money laundering case was registered against him at the Mumbai Cyber Crime police station, and that he would be arrested soon.

The fraudster insisted that the complainant follow his instructions to avoid the arrest and asked him to transfer money to a bank account. The fraudster said the transferred amount would be verified with the RBI and returned to the complainant’s bank account once the verification process was done. 

Convinced by this, the complainant transferred an amount of ₹71 lakh to the account number given by the fraudster. The next day, the complainant was unable to contact the fraudster and eventually realised it was a ‘digital arrest’ scam. He then lodged a cyber complaint for necessary action.

During the course of the investigation, it was found that the entire amount was transferred to a bank account in Surat. A team was formed, and they arrested the primary account holder from the city.

On further investigation, it was found that the bank account number of the accused was linked to nine other cybercrime cases across India. The Cyber Crime Wing, Tiruvallur, has arrested two accused, namely Sojitra Hiren, 26, and Rokad Meetkumar, 30, of Surat.