'A huge network of cyber scams in India', ED filed chargesheet in digital arrest case; Know some shocking revelations
Digital Arrest: ED has filed a chargesheet in a case of digital arrest in which the investigating agency has made eight people accused. The agency said that during the investigation a huge network of cyber scams was found in India. Apart from this, the agency has made many other important revelations regarding cyber fraud. Read what ED said.
Investigative agencies have turned up the heat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged to avoid the danger of 'digital arrest'. Under this, ED has filed a charge sheet against eight individuals in a case in Karnataka. The amount of fraud in this amounts to about Rs 159 crore.
Presently, all the eight accused arrested in the case are in judicial custody. ED issued a statement that a chargesheet was filed against eight such accused in the PMLA court in Bengaluru last month. The investigating agency said, 'The investigation revealed a large-scale network of cyber scams in India relating to fake stock market investments and digital arrests, which are predominantly carried out through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.'
In these investment scams in the stock market, which are popularly known as the Pig Butchering Scam, people are lured by fake websites and deceptive WhatsApp groups that lure them by promising very high profits. By going through these WhatsApp groups, it seems they are associated with reputed financial companies.
The ED said that some of the victims of this scam were 'digitally arrested' by the accused by posing as Customs and CBI officers, then forced them to transfer huge amounts of money to shell companies. The ED said that the accused obtained hundreds of SIM cards to carry out the fraud which were either linked to the bank accounts of shell companies or were used to create WhatsApp accounts. Due to these anonymous SIM cards, the fraudsters are able to deceive the victims, and the risk of their immediate arrest is reduced.
The ED said the accused had created 24 shell companies in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and some other states to receive and legalize the money obtained from cyber crimes. These shell companies are mainly registered on coworking spaces where no real business exists. As proof of starting the business, they had filed fake bank statements before the Registrar of Companies. ED investigation found that the accused converted the money received into cryptocurrency and subsequently transferred the same abroad. ED had filed a chargesheet in this case on October 10 and the court took cognizance of the same on October 29.
In a new advisory issued on Sunday, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center has called upon people to be doubly cautious about 'digital arrest'. It mentioned that persons making video calls are not police, CBI, customs officers or judges, but cybercriminals. The organization that works under the Union Home Ministry asked people, in its advisory, not to fall prey to these 'tricks' and immediately report such crimes on the National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 or on the official portal related to cyber crimes. It was an issue of 'digital arrest' that Prime Minister Modi had raised in his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' on 27 October.
