CBI arrests key accused in cyber fraud case targeting U.S. nationals

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a key accused in connection with a transnational cyber-enabled financial fraud case involving illegal call centres that targeted U.S. nationals.

The accused has been identified as Ankit Satishchandra Pandey. The agency registered the case against him and others on September 8, following allegations that a syndicate had been running illegal call centres from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad since 2024.

“The accused persons impersonated as officers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. Attorney, Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other federal agencies, falsely informing the victims through VoIP communications that their identities were used by someone to access child pornography through their computer systems,” the agency said.

Thereafter, they allegedly induced the victims to withdraw funds from their bank accounts, purchase gold and hand it over to courier persons engaged by the syndicate in the United States. The agency has so far quantified the defrauded amount as over $7.21 million.

After registering the case, the CBI conducted searches at multiple locations in Ahmedabad and seized electronic and digital evidence before it arrested the main accused on Wednesday (September 23, 2026).