Overview
- A pre-dawn Local Crime Branch raid on a Palghar West flat on February 24 seized four laptops, 12 phones and other gear worth about ₹5.72 lakh.
- The callers allegedly posed as Microsoft or Apple staff, claimed victims’ devices were infected, and pressured them to buy Apple, Amazon or Nike gift cards worth $500 to $4,000.
- Bharat Loku Lalwani, Rohit Milind Zonhe, Rohit Rajendra Nimbalkar, Amardeep Angrez Gill and Sagar Baldev Pathadiya were arrested.
- A case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act was registered, and a court remanded the accused to police custody until February 28.
- Police say ongoing forensic work is tracing victim datasets, USDT cryptocurrency flows and hawala links to identify wider cross-border involvement.