Fraudster involved in 135 scams held

INVESTIGATION by the Avadi police into a cybercrime where ₹38 lakh was swindled from a retired college lecturer in a ‘digital arrest’ scam has led the cops to an accused whose 13 bank accounts were used in at least 135 similar scams.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR @Chennai

The accused may have been involved in cheating multiple victims of several crore of rupees through these scams and the illegal proceeds could have been laundered, sources said.

Police said that in July, Veppanchavadi resident Mary Janet was ‘digitally arrested’ by scamsters pretending to be officers of ‘CBI’, ‘ED’, and ‘Mumbai cyber crime’. They extorted ₹38.16 lakh of her funds under the guise of ‘checking if the source of the money was legal’.

This has been the modus operandi used in several such scams across India.

During investigation, the team led by Avadi cybercrime inspector Pravin Kumar found that ₹5 lakh of Mary Janet’s money had been transferred to one mule account belonging to the accused Y Bijoy (33), a resident of Anna Nagar in Chennai.