CBI Cracks Down on Digital Arrest Scams: 80 Locations Raided Across 16 States

Major Operation Against Digital Fraud

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has executed searches at 80 different sites across 16 states as part of an investigation into over 200 cases related to digital arrest scams, where perpetrators created a fraudulent Supreme Court website to mislead individuals, officials reported on Thursday.

Approximately 60 teams from the agency launched this extensive operation earlier this week, leading to the apprehension of two suspects, B Naresh from Chennai and Sanjib Saha from Kolkata.

These individuals are believed to have played a role in setting up shell companies and managing mule bank accounts.

According to a CBI spokesperson, these accounts were allegedly utilized to launder around Rs 2 crore, suspected to be proceeds from criminal activities.

This crackdown was initiated following a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the CBI, which stemmed from a complaint made by the Supreme Court registry regarding fraudsters who were reportedly tricking victims by posing as digital arrest authorities through a URL that closely resembled the official Supreme Court website.

The spokesperson elaborated, "The CBI has recently discovered a fraudulent website with a domain name that closely mimics the official Supreme Court of India site. The scammers purportedly used this domain to mislead victims under the pretense of digital arrests. Following a complaint from the Supreme Court Registry, the CBI registered an FIR and began its investigation into the case."