The crime branch wing of Odisha police has arrested one of the masterminds of an international gang of cybercriminals, based in South East Asia following a Lookout circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, said an official on Saturday. The arrested cybercriminal was operating from Cambodia, Southeast countries and India. He was one of the kingpins who had deceived hundreds of youths from India on the pretext of offering them jobs in IT sectors in the Southeast Asia country.

In joint coordination with the Bureau of Immigration, Crime Branch wings of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh Police, nabbed the cybercriminal who had initiated several youths from different parts of the country and deployed them in Cambodia for deceiving the investors in fake trading Apps. He has been taken on remand to elicit vital clues on modus operandi of the racket, said a senior crime branch official on Saturday.

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Elaborating the details of the cybercrime, the official said a senior officer in Central government had earlier filed a case regarding fraud to the tune of Rs. 67.70 lakh in a fake trading App in the name of genuine SEBI Registered entity INDIRA securities. Following the investigation, Odisha’s Rourkela Police detected an international cybercrime racket based in South-east Asian countries and having links to various Asian countries.

Intensifying the investigation, 14 cyber fraudsters were made between January- August in 2024, of which most had gone to Cambodia and were involved in the racket.The case has international ramifications, having links to stock market fraud, fraud using dating apps, crypto currency, human trafficking, and cyber slavery and poses a threat to national security, added the official. As we had prima facie evidence against multiple people who are involved in the scam, we have issued Lookout Circulars against more than 15 people, informed the official.

The prime concern of police was that of cyber slavery of more than a thousand of Indians who are unable to come back due to movement, monetary and passport restrictions by these large scale cybercrime corporations.

The gang has a well-established network of agents in India, who provide them with pre-activated SIMs, mule bank accounts and most importantly, Indian youth in search of better opportunities, who are misguided into joining “IT firm” and end up working in cybercrime corporations.

During the course of the investigation, fourteen persons were arrested from different parts of the country and three persons were brought on remand from Uttarakhand.

Investigation and Technical assistance from Cyber Crime Unit, Crime Branch, Odisha and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is also being extended in this case due to the gravity of the offence.

It is reiterated that over 500 complaints from across India were identified as per the data from JCCT Management Information System (JMIS) of Ministry of Home Affair, majorly from Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, National Capital Region of Delhi, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.