Three people were arrested for duping people by impersonating officials of a Central agency by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of the Delhi Police, the police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Prabhat, Rajesh, and Arjun, were arrested following a complaint from a person who reported a loss of Rs 55 lakh in digital fraud.

According to the police, on September 12, a complaint was received at the IFSO, a special call wherein the complainant stated that she received a call from a person who claimed to be an official from the Customs Department. He said a parcel belonging to her containing 16 fake passports, 58 ATM cards, and 40 grams of drugs, had been intercepted at Mumbai airport and an arrest warrant had been issued against her by the Mumbai Police.

Elaborating further, she said the caller told her that a CBI investigation was underway against her.

Meanwhile, she received calls from different persons impersonating officials from agencies such as the ED, CBI, and Mumbai Police persuading her to transfer money to their account to verify her accounts to avoid money laundering charges.

Based on her complaint, a case under sections of BNS and section 66C, 66D (cheating by personating) of the IT Act was registered at the IFSO police station.

The police, with the help of technical surveillance, arrested the trio from the Burari area of Outer-North Delhi.

The police said both Prabhat and Rajesh were the proprietors of a firm that used to transfer the funds while Arjun had opened various accounts for storing the fraud amount.

The modus operandi of the syndicate was to impersonate officials from the police, CBI, customs, and other government bodies. They would inform victims that parcels containing prohibited items had been intercepted, with their names listed as the sender.

Initially, they threatened the victims with arrest and severe penalties, but later switched to a more sympathetic tone, suggesting it could be a case of mistaken identity. To resolve the issue, they instructed their prey to lodge a formal complaint and transfer their savings into specified accounts for “verification,” falsely promising that the funds would be refunded after the verification process.