In a significant crackdown on organized digital crime, the Fatehpur Police in Uttar Pradesh announced the arrest of three key operatives belonging to a sophisticated interstate and foreign-linked cyber extortion network. The syndicate terrorized victims by impersonating senior Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers and levelling fabricated money-laundering charges.
The Elaborate Scam That Trapped a Senior Citizen
The case came to light when a 68-year-old retired railway employee, Motilal from Fatehpur's Hussainganj area, approached the police. He reported that on November 4, he received a call from a person identifying himself as "ATS Chief Basant Lal." The caller accused Motilal of involvement in serious money laundering activities and threatened him with imminent arrest unless he cooperated with a "verification process." Living in fear, the elderly man ended up transferring a staggering ₹41,10,000 into multiple bank accounts over the next 13 days, from November 4 to November 17, while being kept under a state of "digital arrest."
Following his complaint, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 66C/66D of the Information Technology Act.
Joint Raid Nets Key Facilitators and a Treasure Trove of Evidence
A coordinated effort by the Cyber Crime Police Station and the Intelligence Wing led to a raid in Greater Noida's Pari Chowk area. The operation resulted in the arrest of the three accused: Sarthak Grover (29) from Delhi's Mansarovar Garden, Rahul Sharma (31) and Santosh Kumar (44), both linked to Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad.
Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Anoop Singh revealed that the trio acted as crucial ground-level facilitators for cybercriminals based in South-East Asia. "Their role included procuring SIM cards using fake identities, providing OTPs and communication support to overseas handlers, arranging bank accounts in the names of financially vulnerable individuals, and ensuring rapid laundering of funds", Singh stated. The laundering methods involved ATM withdrawals, Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices, gold purchases, and conversion into USDT cryptocurrency.
The police seizure from the raid underscores the scale of the operation:
- 34 Android smartphones with 39 active SIM cards, 5 keypad phones, 3 laptops, 2 tablets.
- 7 Solid State Drives (SSDs), 6 WiFi routers, 2 swipe machines, and a mini-printer.
- 83 debit and credit cards, 36 chequebooks, multiple PAN and Aadhaar documents (some suspected forged).
- 2 passports, a UAE residency card, and a Dubai locker key.
- The specific handset and SIM used to threaten the Fatehpur victim were also recovered.
Modus Operandi and National Footprint of the Syndicate
SP Singh explained that the network operated on a "rented bank account" model. The accused would lure individuals, often from financially weak backgrounds, by offering them ₹500–1,000 per account and a monthly payment of ₹2,000. These accounts, opened in private banks and financial institutions, were then used to receive illicit funds.
Once victims deposited money, the accused executed rapid, layered withdrawals to obscure the money trail and funnel the cash back to their foreign controllers. Evidence, including Grover's passport showing multiple foreign trips, indicated frequent coordination with handlers operating cybercrime hubs abroad.
Data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) shows this syndicate has a wide reach, with at least 31 complaints registered against it from states including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, Punjab, and Tripura.
This bust highlights the evolving threat of organized cyber extortion and the critical need for public vigilance against impersonation and intimidation tactics used by fraudsters.
