Overview

• Fraudsters using a foreign VPN number in March lured Pushpalata Jharia with promises of diamonds, gold and Rs 10 lakh, extracting Rs 4 lakh in false processing fees.
• After disappearing from her parents’ home on April 23, she traveled through Mumbai, Surat and Delhi while continuing to send money to the scammers.
• In June, the operators forced her to record a fake kidnapping video and demanded Rs 2 lakh in ransom with threats of violence.
• Police traced a call from Greater Noida and safely recovered her on June 16, deploying four teams after a habeas corpus petition.
• Investigators are now mapping a cyber trail leading to foreign IP addresses but lack of international cooperation is hindering efforts to apprehend the perpetrators.