Cyber scammers keep TN police on toes, 12 nabbed for multiple crimes

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Police's Cybercrime wing had a busy weekend apprehending about a dozen suspects involved in a bouquet of cyber scams ranging from the digital arrest scam to scholarship scam and online investment fraud among others.

In the first case, a gang of eight persons, including two women, who were running an online trading investment scam with Sri Lankan connections, were apprehended based on a complaint by a doctor who lost Rs 87.9 lakh to the gang.

The victim was lured by an advertisement on Facebook, promising high returns on his investment. A team led by Cybercrime wing SP I Shahnaz traced the gang and apprehended S Sahabudeen (44), Shahid Afridi (27), Mushtaq Ahmed (24), Mohammed Usman (67), N Vajafullah (50), his wife, V Fathima (45), Mohammed Munawar (41) and his wife Jamilath Naseera (34). All the accused are from various parts of the state.

In another case, probing a 'digital arrest' complaint from a Vellore resident, who lost Rs 2.725 crore to scammers claiming to be Mumbai police, the cybercrime team landed in Kerala, where they apprehended a man who used his wife's bank account as a mule account to aid the fraudsters.

The victim travelled from Vellore to Hosur and locked himself in a lodge there, believing the scammers and ended up transferring the amount to the fraudsters over three days. After realising that he had been conned, he filed a complaint. The police who checked the money trail found that Rs 1.3 crore was credited to an SBI bank account in Kerala, which belongs to Global Traders, a sole proprietorship owned by Manju.

The probe revealed that Manju opened the bank account at the instigation of her husband, Imthiaz Shah, who was actively involved in the offence. Police have arrested Imthiaz and are on the lookout for three of his associates based in Thiruvananthapuram.

On verification with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), it was found that 99 complaints had been registered against this account from across India, police said.

In addition to the arrests in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, a police team travelled to Delhi and arrested Ashu Kumar (29), Anuj Kumar Jha (21) and Shubham Kumar (22), who were involved in scholarship scams.

TN DGP Shankar Jiwal and Additional Director General of Police (Cyber Crime), Sandeep Mittal, commended the police teams for securing the accused.