International links have been uncovered in Mumbai's Rs 58 crore digital arrest scam, with the Maharashtra Cyber Police tracing the money trail to Hong Kong, China and Indonesia.
The scam had come to light when a 72-year-old Mumbai-based businessman filed a complaint saying he had received a call from fraudsters posing as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI officials. They accused him of being involved in a crime and demanded that he "cooperate with the investigation."
The victim was then placed on a video call that lasted several hours, during which he was threatened and manipulated into transferring money. By the end of the call, a staggering amount of Rs 58 crore was withdrawn from his account.
Officials said the entire amount looted through the scam was transferred out of the country using cryptocurrency transactions.
An investigation by the Maharashtra Cyber Police has revealed that the case is not an isolated one but part of an international syndicate that has been scamming people across India for the past year. They also claim this case is part of a much larger network of online frauds worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore.
Officials said the scam was ran by a gang that used commission-based bank accounts, often controlled by accomplices, that acted as collection points.
In each fake digital arrest case, the victim was asked to make an online payment, which would first reach Indian bank accounts and then quickly get converted into cryptocurrency and routed to foreign wallets, allowing the scammers to move the money out of the country almost immediately.
"This entire network was active for over a year. Tracking the money trail is difficult because crypto was immediately moved between multiple wallets after each transaction," officials said.
Many of the IP addresses and exchange details uncovered so far in the investigation of digital transactions have been linked to China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.
The Mumbai Cyber Police have traced several bank accounts and digital wallets in this case and the process of requesting data of these accounts from foreign agencies has now begun.
So far, 26 people have been arrested in connection with the digital arrest scam, and several "mule" bank accounts used to route the stolen money have been frozen. Investigators say these accounts were opened using fake identities and were operated on commission to facilitate the rapid transfer of funds abroad.
The revelations have raised alarm over the growing use of digital platforms and virtual currencies in large-scale cybercrime operations targeting Indians.
