Overview
- Under Operation Mule Hunt, Gujarat police arrested eight Surat residents accused of opening 82 bank accounts for nine fake firms, allegedly linked to 1,229 cases totaling more than Rs 826 crore.
- An 80-year-old Navi Mumbai resident lost Rs 4.38 crore in a ‘digital arrest’ fraud, with investigators finding his account was also used as a mule to route funds from other victims.
- A 75-year-old Mumbai retiree was coerced into transferring Rs 16.5 lakh after callers posed as ATS and NIA officials tied to a fake Delhi blast probe; a case has been registered.
- WhatsApp trading and fake-app scams continue to surface, including losses of Rs 1.38 crore in Mangaluru, about Rs 1.03 crore in Hyderabad, and Rs 74.67 lakh in Navi Mumbai, often escalating when victims attempt withdrawals.
- Enforcement actions span states, with Bengaluru police freezing and enabling recovery of Rs 2.16 crore in an email spoofing case, Chandigarh police arresting a key suspect in a Rs 15 lakh impersonation fraud, and arrests reported in Jharkhand and Odisha ‘digital arrest’ probes.