At a significant crackdown against cybercriminals, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated search operations at 76 locations throughout India. The ‘Operation Chakra-2’ crackdown came about as a result of five distinct examples of financial crime aided by cyberspace, one of which involved a crypto scam for ₹100 crore.
According to CBI officials, one of the cases involves a scam that used cryptocurrency fraud to syphon off ₹100 crore from Indian residents.
“This audacious scheme, under the guise of a fake crypto mining operation, targeted unsuspecting Indian citizens, resulting in a staggering loss of over ₹100 crore to Indian victims,” the CBI spokesperson said
According to the officials, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) supplied “critical inputs” that led to the registration of the case.
They stated that two complaints were filed in response to allegations from Microsoft and Amazon that the defendants operated contact centres and pretended to be the businesses’ technical help in order to target international nationals.
The Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) also searched nine call centres as part of the investigation, the officials said.
“In these cases, the accused impersonated a global IT major and a multinational corporation with an online technology-driven trading platform. The accused…operating across five states/UTs, systematically preyed on foreign nationals, masquerading as technical support representatives,” the spokesperson said.
Due to the continuing investigation, the agency chose not to disclose the specifics of two further incidents.
The spokesperson noted that in order to take comprehensive action to break up these criminal networks, details of identified victims, shell businesses, money mules, proceeds of crime, co-accused, and support components are being shared with international law enforcement organisations.
The CBI conducted Chakra-1 about a year ago in collaboration with Interpol, the FBI, and police forces from other nations. According to the officials, the CIA worked with police forces in 115 different states to conduct searches.
The CBI is closely collaborating with the Singapore Police Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, the Cyber Crime Directorate and IFCACC of INTERPOL, the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom, the BKA of Germany, and the Cyber Crime Directorate and IFCACC of INTERPOL in order to alert other leads.
The searches were reportedly carried out in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, and West Bengal, according to the officials.
“In the wake of Operation Chakra-II, 32 mobile phones, 48 laptops/hard disks, images of two servers, 33 SIM cards, and pen drives were confiscated and numerous bank accounts were frozen. The CBI also seized a dump of 15 email accounts, illuminating the intricate web of deceit spun by the accused,” the spokesperson said.
