Operation Chakra-V: CBI conducts searches across six States in ‘digital arrest’ case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday carried out searches at close to 40 locations in and around Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, and West Bengal in connection with a transnational cyber-enabled “digital arrest” fraud case, as part of the ongoing Operation Chakra-V.

The agency had earlier registered a comprehensive first information report, based on the complaints received on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from nine different victims of digital arrest. It then probed both the mule accounts and telecommunication channels used to approach the victims.

“This led to identification of about 40 individuals who were part of the organised cyber-crime network perpetrating the digital arrest fraud,” said the agency, adding that it unearthed an extensive domestic facilitation network involved in supplying mule bank accounts and enabling parallel “hawala” channels for layering and movement of proceeds of crime.

The CBI found that a part of the defrauded money had been withdrawn in India and the remaining sent abroad, to be then withdrawn from foreign-located ATMs. “An analysis of more than 15,000 IP addresses revealed that the perpetrators of the digital arrest frauds were carrying out their operations from foreign locations, including Cambodia, and using Indian mule account holders to layer and integrate the proceeds of crime,” said an official.

The network supported high-value fund flows through coordinated mules and money transfer agents and high-speed money movement was made using Fintech infrastructure. “Digital devices, KYC documents, SIM cards, and WhatsApp communication archives recovered during the searches are being examined to establish end-to-end linkages among domestic facilitators and main conspirators, and to map the modus operandi, financial trails, and communication infrastructure used in the offence,” the agency said.