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New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) As digital arrest cases appear to be on a sharp rise, the CBI on Wednesday coordinated a nationwide search at around 40 locations in Delhi NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal as a part of a transitional cyber-enabled “digital arrest,” it said.
The central agency, in its press note, said it had registered a comprehensive FIR based on complaints received on the NCRP portal of I4C MHA from nine different victims of digital arrest.
“The CBI conducted a detailed investigation focusing on both the mule accounts and the telecommunication channels used to reach the victim. This led to the identification of around 40 individuals who were part of the organized cyber crime network perpetrating the digital arrest fraud,” the CBI said.
During the operation, CBI has unearthed an extensive domestic facilitation network involved in supply of mule bank accounts and enabled parallel hawala channels for layering and movement of proceeds of crime.
The investigation revealed that part of the money was withdrawn in India, and the remainder was sent abroad, then withdrawn from foreign ATMs.
“Analysis of over 15,000 IP addresses revealed that the perpetrators of digital arrest fraud carried out their operations from overseas locations, including Cambodia and used Indian mule account holders to accomplish layering and integration of the proceeds of crime,” it said.
The network was designed to support high-value fund flows through coordinated mules and money transfer agents, and high-speed money movement using fintech infrastructure.
The agency further said that ‘Digital devices, KYC documents, SIM cards and WhatsApp communication archives are being recovered during the searches, which are being examined to establish the end-to-end linkage between the domestic facilitators and the main conspirators, and the modus operandi, financial trails and communication infrastructure. Has been used in the crime. ,
This reflects CBI’s commitment to counter cyber-enabled financial crimes through sustained intelligence-led operations, inter-agency coordination and use of advanced digital forensics to counter complex transnational fraud networks.
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