Main accused in octogenarian Rajasthan woman cyber fraud case arrested

Jaipur, July 30 Months after an 82-year-old Rajasthan woman was duped of Rs 80 lakh by scammers posing as officials from the Mumbai Cyber Crime branch, the main accused has been arrested, said officials on Wednesday.

In the shocking case of cyber fraud, the octogenarian from Ajmer was manipulated for over eight days, threatened with ‘digital arrest’ and coerced into transferring the money.

According to SP Cyber Crime, Shantanu Kumar Singh, the incident was reported between November 23 and November 30, 2024. The scammers contacted the victim via WhatsApp video calls, falsely claiming to be officials from Mumbai Cyber Crime.

Exploiting fear and confusion, they convinced her that she was involved in legal trouble and must transfer money to avoid arrest.

Following the registration of the case in Ajmer, it was transferred to the Rajasthan Cyber Crime Police Station in Jaipur, which launched a detailed investigation. Cyber police analysed the transaction trail and discovered that the entire defrauded sum had initially been transferred to a single bank account.

The account was found to be in the name of Sovan Mandal (30), son of Santosh Mandal, a resident of Dhuliya, Howrah, West Bengal.

Mondal was arrested and is currently under interrogation.

Investigations revealed that the Rs 80 lakh was swiftly dispersed into over 150 different bank accounts.

Authorities suspected that the funds were being converted into USDT cryptocurrency through coordinated cash withdrawals, further complicating the tracking process.

Police are currently working to identify all individuals linked to these accounts. So far, 18 accused have been arrested in connection with this fraud ring.

Police have recovered a significant cache of items, including Rs 13 lakh in cash, 27 mobile phones, 43 debit cards, 19 bank passbooks, 15 cheque books, 16 SIM cards, 13 PAN/Aadhaar cards, one laptop, and one Swift VDI car.

SP Singh stated that the gang used their commissions from the fraud to fund lavish lifestyles.

Investigators believe the network may be linked to multiple other cyber fraud cases across the country.

Cybercrime Police have urged citizens to remain vigilant and not fall prey to such scams. Officials emphasised that law enforcement agencies never demand money over the phone or via digital means. People are advised to report any suspicious calls or messages immediately to the cybercrime helpline.

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