The Surat police busted a major gang that laundered money extorted from “digital arrest” victims across the country and even abroad. On November 11, the police arrested four suspects, only to find that their names figured in at least 200 cybercrime fraud FIRs registered in 15 states and Union territories.

The arrests were the result of a three-month-long meticulous operation in which the computer crime cell of the Ahmedabad police traced the money trail in a case. Police detected that thousands of money parted from cyber fraud victims first went to a “mule account”, running on “rooted devices” operated from outside India.

According to police, the rooted devices, installed on Taiwanese technology, were connected to a router that bypassed built-in security systems and forwarded all OTPs and calls to another remotely operated device, possibly in Taiwan or Dubai.

Soft accounts are bank accounts opened by fraudsters by buying, coercing or stealing people’s identity documents and a phone number registered under that name. The victims are often daily wagers who would share their documents for a few thousand rupees. The debit cards of these mule accounts are sent to Dubai and other places abroad, from where the money is withdrawn in cash. Alternatively, the money is taken out and converted into cryptocurrency or sent abroad through hawala, police officials say.

After cracking down on cyber fraud three months ago, the cyber crime cell uncovered several dens of rooted devices with which mule accounts were being operated. From Mota Varachha and Sarthana areas of Surat, police recovered laptops and computers, 198 bank passbooks, 139 debit cards, 336 SIM cards, 35 check books, 16 bank kits and 36 mobile phones.

A total of 25 suspects have been arrested in the last three months from Surat. On November 11, suspects Ajay Italiya, Vishal Tummar and Jalpesh Nadiyadara were nabbed from Surat, while Hiren Barwaliya was arrested from Mumbai airport while on his way to Dubai. Other suspects, Milan Vaghela, Jagdish Ajudiya, Ketan Vekariya and Dashrath Dhandhaliya, are absconding, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhavesh Rojiya said transactions worth Rs 111 crore were detected from 623 bank accounts the gang was involved in, making it possibly the country’s biggest cyber crime so far . Of those 623 accounts, 370 were actively receiving money from victims of digital arrests, betting scams, investment scams and recovery fraud.

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