Delhi: 6 held in 4 cyber fraud cases during week-long crackdown

Following a week-long drive against cybercrime, six people have been arrested in separate operations for their alleged involvement in various online fraud cases, including digital arrest and fake work-from-home scam, police said on Thursday.

Police conducted raids in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan as part of a targeted initiative to dismantle cybercrime networks that prey on victims through sophisticated digital traps, an officer said.

In one case, police arrested Gulpham Ansari (25) from Ranhola Extension, Delhi, for allegedly stalking and extorting a woman by leaking her private videos. He created fake social media accounts and circulated the videos among her relatives and friends while demanding Rs 3 lakh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sharad Bhaskar Darade said.

Police recovered seven mobile phones, three ATM cards, two cheque books, a passbook, and two SIM cards from Ansari.

In another case, two men, identified as Shiva (19) and Punit Kumar alias Sahil (22), were arrested from Ballabgarh, Faridabad, for their involvement in a digital arrest scam, police said.

“The accused had duped a woman of Rs 11.75 lakh by impersonating law enforcement officers and coercing her to transfer the money under the pretext of a money laundering probe,” the DCP said.

Additionally, Ankit Sonkariya was arrested in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in a fake work-from-home job scam case. “The accused allegedly duped a woman of Rs 2.74 lakh after promising her payments for reviewing locations on a maps application,” he added.

Another cybercrime module, allegedly using fake “BSES metre verification” APK files to access victims’ bank details, was busted with the arrest of Lavlesh Kumar (22) and Harbhajan (24), both residents of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

The complainant in this case was cheated of Rs 16.52 lakh after downloading a fraudulent app. Police said Rs 6 lakh was traced to accounts linked to the accused.