Udupi police arrest suspect in digital arrest scam, recover ₹7 lakh

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, February 3, 2025: In a breakthrough, Udupi Town Police arrested a person involved in a digital arrest scam.

Police identified the accused as Kiran (24), a resident of Shahapur in Yadgir district. Rs 7 lakh in cash was seized from the accused, they added.

The case came to light after a complaint from Kannar Santosh Kumar, who reported receiving a call from an unknown number claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The caller falsely alleged that Kumar’s mobile number was involved in illegal advertisements and harassing messages, claiming 17 FIRs had been registered against him. The caller threatened that all his mobile connections would be disconnected within two hours.

To intensify the deception, the fraudsters made a WhatsApp video call, introducing themselves as an inspector from the Cyber Police Station in Andheri East, Mumbai. They claimed that Kumar’s Aadhaar-linked bank account was involved in a money laundering case related to an individual named Naresh Goyal.

Under the pretext of income verification, the scammers obtained Kumar’s bank details and instructed him to transfer Rs 89,000 to an SBI account for “RBI fund verification,” claiming he would remain under virtual arrest until the funds were cleared.

Based on Kumar’s complaint, a case was registered at Udupi Town Police Station. Under the leadership of Inspector Ramachandra Nayak, the investigation team, including Praveen Kumar, Praveen, Rajesh, Diksheet, Sukanya, Jyothi, ASI Subhash from the City Police Station, and ASI Rajesh P. from the Padubidri Police Station, conducted operations in Kerala, Maharashtra (including Pune), and other locations. The accused was eventually apprehended in Dharwad.

Police said a mobile phone and Rs 5 lakh in cash was confiscated from the accused during the operation. Additionally, Rs 2 lakh previously transferred to the account of Mohammad Nisham C.K. in Kerala, related to the same scam, was also recovered, bringing the total recovered amount in the case to Rs 7 lakh.