The Cyber Crime Unit of Odisha Crime Branch arrested two scammers for duping a senior scientist from Odisha of Rs 1.68 crore in a digital arrest case, a senior official said on Tuesday.

One of the cyber fraudsters, Satish Kumar K, was nabbed from Chennai, while his accomplice Harish C M was apprehended from Kozhikode. They have a history of such cyber fraud and were on bail following their arrest. The duo was later remanded in judicial custody on the direction of a court in Bhubaneswar, the Crime Branch officer said.

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A senior scientist from Bhubaneswar brought the matter to the notice of the crime branch on 9 August 2024, alleging that he was a victim of a digital arrest scam and had lost Rs 1.68 crore from his precious savings.

The complainant said he received a call from an unknown mobile number with the caller claiming that he was from a courier service.

The caller told him that using his name and Aadhar number, a parcel had been sent to Japan containing 5 passports, 3 credit cards, 200 gm MDMA (drugs), 4 kg cloth, one laptop and Rs 35, 000 in cash. The caller, a member of the digital arrest racket, later claimed that the parcel had been retained by the Customs Department and sent to the Narcotics Department for the registration of an FIR.

He was directed to speak to the Mumbai Crime Branch immediately. Later, he received another call, which was promptly switched to a video call with a WhatsApp number appearing as that of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

Through the video call, a person dressed in a police uniform was seen discussing with a Deputy Commissioner of Police and instructing the staff not to register the FIR against him, as he was a government officer.

He was made to believe that they had all his personal information. They told him not to disconnect the call until the investigation was over. They also shared the names and photos of several senior officers who had been investigated and issued No Objection Certificates. They were issuing letters from CBI, RBI, etc, and asked him to read them aloud. They told him there were serious allegations against him, claiming that four illegal accounts had been opened using his Aadhaar number in UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Bihar. These accounts were allegedly used for money laundering during the election by Mr Nawab Mallik and the Dawood Ibrahim group. They further told him that he would remain under surveillance until the investigation was complete.

Around 9.30 am on 14th August, they issued a letter instructing him to deposit money into a government account controlled by the RBI and managed by the Mumbai Crime Branch. The letter said that his account would be verified to determine if it was linked to any illegal activity, and the money would be returned in 23 minutes. They instructed him to go to the bank with his mobile in his pocket. They provided an account number, and he transferred Rs 68 lakh to that account, which belonged to Satish Kumar from Chennai. Shortly after, they told him to transfer money to another bank, assuring him the money would be reverted to his account. Following this, he made an RTGS transfer of Rs 8,82,000. They then instructed him to return without discussing the matter with anyone. Later, they showed him a letter stating that around Rs 31 lakh had been used by money launderers for converting black money into white.

Finally, they told him to transfer another Rs 30 lakhs, assuring him that only then would they issue the NOC. In this way, the fraudsters duped him of Rs 1,06,82,000 (one crore six lakh and eighty-two thousand) through three transactions across three banks between 9th and 14th August 2024.

The Cyber Crime Unit of the Crime Branch, after reviewing the money trail, identified that the majority of the money in this case had been transferred to two accounts located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and Kozhikode, Kerala. The Crime Branch team successfully traced the accused and despatched two teams to Chennai and Kerala, where they arrested the first-layer account holders. These individuals received most of the money cheated from the victim, the Crime Branch official concluded.