A major cybercrime investigation in Gujarat has led to the arrest of a 25-year-old man from Assam, who police allege was connected to 1,090 cybercrime cases involving Rs. 1,071.5 crore across India, including digital arrest scams.
The Gujarat CID arrested Rafiqul Alam in Barpeta, alleging that he worked with China-based criminals to move fraud proceeds through a network of bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets. Investigators said he helped transfer tainted money into 1,758 bank accounts and later convert it into cryptocurrency for transfer to China.
The CID’s Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCE) said, “Based on technical analysis and the victims’ statement, a team from CCE visited Barpeta city and conducted a three-day recce of the house of the main money launderer in disguise and arrested him along with his technical gadgets.”
Police alleged that money received through digital arrest and other cyber frauds was split into smaller amounts and moved across multiple accounts to avoid financial monitoring. The CCE said, “The money received by the accused through digital arrest or cyber frauds was split and transferred to 1,754 bank accounts across India within an hour by converting large amounts into small amounts to evade the attention of financial surveillance agencies.”
Investigators found 23 cryptocurrency wallets on Alam’s phones, with transactions worth Rs. 16 crore. The CCE also reported illegal cryptocurrency trading through the ‘chip seller’ app. Police said financial details, crypto wallet information and the alleged fraud methods were shared with China-based criminals through WhatsApp and Telegram.
“The accused has been involved in a total of 1,090 cyber crimes across the country amounting to Rs 1071.5 crore. His mobile phones also had gaming account transactions,” the Gujarat police unit said.
Separately, the CCE said it helped prevent 10 digital arrest scams involving victims from Gujarat, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Among them were senior citizens allegedly threatened with child pornography and Enforcement Directorate cases, with demands of Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 60 lakh. One victim even attempted to sell property to arrange the demanded money.
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