Gandhinagar, September 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Gujarat Police’s Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) has arrested three alleged members of a cybercrime network accused of facilitating the movement of money in a Rs 3.76-crore digital arrest fraud, with bank accounts linked to 29 cybercrime complaints across 13 states.
The accused were arrested from Rajasthan and Chandigarh following technical surveillance and field investigations into an FIR registered at the CID Cyber Crime Cell Police Station.
According to police, the three accused had received around Rs 83.11 lakh and allegedly operated on a commission basis to facilitate the transfer of proceeds generated through cyber fraud.
The accused arrested from Chandigarh allegedly used applications on his mobile phone to conduct USDT transactions and transfer cryptocurrency to other members of the cybercrime network. Police said cash was allegedly routed in return through his own and other bank accounts.
Investigators found that 29 cybercrime complaints registered in Gujarat and other states were linked to transactions involving the accounts, with the complaints involving around Rs 13.11 lakh, according to the police.
The two accused arrested from Rajasthan allegedly opened a bank account in the name of a partnership firm and deposited around Rs 70 lakh generated through the alleged digital arrest fraud. Police said the money was subsequently transferred with the intention of earning a commission.
During examination of the accused persons’ mobile phones, investigators recovered details of seven bank accounts.
“Checks on the national cybercrime portal showed that more than 29 cybercrime cases involving around Rs 83.11 lakh had been committed using these accounts,” police said.
The complaints linked to the accounts include one from Gujarat, two from Maharashtra, seven from Karnataka, three from Tamil Nadu, one from Rajasthan, one from Uttar Pradesh, one from Delhi, one from Madhya Pradesh, three from West Bengal, two from Andhra Pradesh, one from Telangana, two from Jharkhand and one from Odisha.
The investigation also uncovered what police described as a new modus operandi allegedly adopted by absconding members of the network to divert the Rs 3.76 crore purportedly obtained from the complainant through the digital arrest fraud.
According to investigators, the accused initially targeted people searching for online loans. They allegedly told prospective victims that loans could be arranged through a finance company called NEO FINANCE and asked them to submit the required documents.
The victims were then allegedly instructed to download the PUSHBULLET application from the Play Store and were provided with an ID and password to activate it.
Police alleged that the accused subsequently gained access to the victims’ mobile phones and used their bank accounts to receive money generated through the digital arrest fraud.
The proceeds were allegedly transferred through bulk transactions to other bank accounts, enabling the network to move the fraud money through accounts belonging to people who believed they were applying for loans.
The arrested accused have been identified as Gopal Ram, a resident of Ajmer district in Rajasthan; Nekdin Kathat, also from Ajmer; and Deepak, a resident of Jind in Haryana.
Police said the accused allegedly used bank accounts opened in their own names to facilitate the transfer of cyber fraud proceeds in return for commissions.
Investigators also found another part of the alleged network in which fraud proceeds were received in bank accounts, converted into USDT and supplied to other members.
The bank accounts examined during the investigation were allegedly used in digital arrest, investment, UPI-related and trading fraud cases. Four mobile phones were seized from the accused.
The Cyber Centre of Excellence advised people to verify the credentials of companies before applying for online loans and cautioned them against handing over bank accounts, ATM cards, chequebooks or SIM cards to others.
It also warned people to be cautious of investment advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram that promise unusually high returns within a short period.
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