CHENNAI: Chennai Police's Cyber Crime police arrested two persons from Thoothukudi for operating mule bank accounts for cyber fraudsters, who scammed people of several crores through the "digital arrest" and investment scams.
Digital arrest involves scammers impersonating as law enforcement officers, typically from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Mumbai Police, among others, and fabricate a scenario to instil fear and create panic in the minds of the person at the other end of the line.
In one case, the police arrested Selvakumar, a 35-year-old from Kayalpattinam, after tracing Rs 10 lakh from a Rs 4.15 crore "digital arrest" scam to his Tamilnad Mercantile Bank account. The money had been withdrawn almost entirely in cash, police said.
Acting on a complaint from a 73-year-old Chennai resident who lost Rs 4.15 crore to fraudsters in September this year, the police initially arrested Manish Kumar (23) from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Further probe into the case led to Selvakumar's arrest.
In the second case, the police arrested Nishanth (37) for cheating an Anna Nagar resident of Rs 1.02 crore through fake investment apps.
The two of them were brought to the city, produced before a magistrate, and remanded in judicial custody.