Three men from West Bengal have been arrested by Delhi Police's Cyber South police station after they allegedly posed as officers from the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad, the IPS, and the CBI to defraud a woman of Rs 7.22 lakh through a digital arrest scam. The arrests have pulled back the curtain on a well-organised cyber fraud network that provided criminal infrastructure to fraudsters operating across the country.
The Digital Arrest Trap
The case came to light when the victim lodged a formal complaint. The fraudsters had kept her on a continuous WhatsApp video call, repeatedly insisting she was under "digital arrest" and warning her of serious legal consequences if she did not comply. Faced with sustained intimidation, she transferred Rs 7.22 lakh via RTGS. To make their act convincing, the accused introduced themselves as officers from the Mumbai ATS, the IPS, and the CBI, projecting a false authority that left the victim too frightened to question them.
How the Money Trail Led to West Bengal
After the complaint was registered at Cyber South police station, investigators turned their attention to the bank accounts and digital transaction records involved. The analysis showed that the defrauded money was first deposited into a bank account in West Bengal, from where it was dispersed across several other accounts in a bid to mask its origins.
A deeper probe uncovered that the accused were not merely direct fraudsters but also served as suppliers to a wider criminal ecosystem. They provided mule bank accounts, SIM cards, and banking credentials to cyber fraudsters, enabling those criminals to receive and move stolen funds. The deliberate routing of money through multiple accounts, a technique known as layering, was designed to make the funds extremely difficult to trace.
Raids Across West Bengal
Armed with technical surveillance data and intelligence inputs, Delhi Police mounted coordinated raids in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas and Howrah districts. Three suspects were detained during these operations: Samiran Roy, Prince Shaw, and Samar Chatterjee.
Six Phones, a Laptop and Stacks of Cards Recovered
Searches of the accused yielded six mobile phones, one laptop, 18 debit and credit cards, 15 SIM cards, and a range of banking-related documents. The volume and variety of material seized reinforced the picture of a systematic and organised criminal operation rather than an isolated act of fraud.
International Syndicate Links Under Scrutiny
Preliminary findings from the investigation have raised the possibility of links to an international cyber fraud syndicate. Police confirmed that the inquiry is actively continuing and that more details are expected to emerge as it progresses.
