Ex-IFS officer loses Rs 6.8 cr to cyber frauds, 3 from Kerala held

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police's cybercrime wing has arrested three men from Kerala in connection with an online fraud that cost a retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Rs 6.8 crore.

In his complaint filed two months ago, Krishnan Kumar Kaushal (60), a native of Himachal Pradesh, who retired as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in July 2024 stated that he transferred all his savings, retirement benefits, and house sale proceeds to bogus apps, believing their promises.

After he received some WhatsApp messages in December 2024, the 1990-batch IFS officer downloaded two apps – SMC Apex and Shanda Capital – as guided by their customer service executives. From the beginning of this year and the last week of January, Krishnan Kumar ended up making online bank transfers totalling Rs 6.58 crore to bank accounts belonging to the frauds.

Krishnan Kumar realised he was being scammed after observing that the payees were in different parts of the country and involved in different businesses such as furniture, finance, etc., and that the data in the app were fake.

"The daily rise in value of shares was orchestrated and fabricated in the app. It was not in tune with the NSE or BSE prices when checked online on official platforms," his complaint said.

Realising he had been scammed, Krishnan Kumar registered a complaint with the 1930 cybercrime helpline and the Chennai Police's Cyber Crime wing registered a case and began investigations.

A special team headed by inspector Peer Basha traced the bank accounts to Kerala, where they secured a trio who were paid to operate the bank accounts for cyber scammers.

"The money deposited in their accounts was sent abroad through hawala channels and returned to India as USDT cryptocurrency, through BINANCE trading APP," a police officer said.

Police said five accused from New Delhi and surrounding areas were earlier arrested, but it was the trio from Kerala who were instrumental in converting the scam money into cryptocurrency.

The three arrested have been identified as Sreejith R Nair (47) of Ernakulam, Abdulsalu (47) of Kozhikode, and Mohammed Farwaiz (44) of Malappuram district. They were brought to the city on a transit warrant and have been remanded in judicial custody.

"It seems the accused are also wanted in similar online frauds orchestrated in other places in Tamil Nadu and other states," an investigating officer told DT Next.