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Cyber Scam in India: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on avoiding the threat of 'digital arrest', investigating agencies have intensified action. Under which ED has filed a charge sheet against eight people in a case in Karnataka. In which the amount of scam is around Rs 159 crore.
All the eight accused arrested in the case are currently in judicial custody. In a statement, the ED filed the chargesheet against eight accused in the PMLA court in Bengaluru last month. The investigation agency said the investigation revealed that there was a large network of cyber scams in India, including fraudulent stock market investments and digital arrests. Which is mainly done through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.
lured by higher profits
A popular stock market investment scam, known as the pig slaughter scam, involves luring people with promises of higher profits using fake websites and deceptive WhatsApp groups. Looking at these fake WhatsApp groups, it seems that they are associated with some reputed financial company.
The ED said some victims of the scam were 'digitally arrested' by the accused posing as customs officers or CBI officers, who then forced them to transfer huge sums of money to shell companies. The accused fraudulently obtained thousands of SIM cards which were linked to the bank accounts of shell companies or were used to create WhatsApp accounts. These can fool victims of anonymous SIM card scams and reduce the risk of getting caught immediately.
Amount converted into crypto currency
The ED said the accused had created 24 shell companies in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and some other states to launder the proceeds of cyber fraud. These shell companies are mainly registered in covering space (where there is no real business). They filed fake bank statements with the Registrar of Companies as proof of starting the business. The ED investigation found that the accused converted the amount received into crypto currency and transferred it abroad. In this case, ED had filed the charge sheet on October 10 and the court took cognizance of it on October 29.
I4C announces new advice
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) on Sunday issued a new advisory, urging people to beware of 'digital arrest'. In which it has been said that the people making video calls are not police, CBI, custom officers or judges but cyber criminals.
In an advisory, the organization working under the Union Home Ministry asked people not to fall into this 'trap' and immediately register complaints of such criminals on the National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 or the official portal related to cyber crime. Prime Minister Modi had raised the issue of digital arrest in his radio program 'Mann Ki Baat' on October 27.