Overview
- This week Gujarat’s Cyber Centre of Excellence arrested 25‑year‑old Rafiqul Alam and linked him to between about ₹1,071 crore and ₹1,173 crore of suspected fraud across roughly 1,042–1,090 cases, a variance police say reflects ongoing forensic work.
- Ahmedabad cyber teams separately uncovered a ‘cybercrime‑as‑a‑service’ ring that procured around 4,500 SIM cards, is accused of selling roughly 21,000 OTPs and had technical links to malware and call‑centre infrastructure tied to China and Pakistan.
- Teams intervened in live extortion schemes and say they prevented about 10 victims from transferring more money while other state units recovered and restored funds in multiple cases, including a Rs 1 crore restoration in Cyberabad.
- Police describe the criminal method as impersonation and ‘digital arrest’ coercion supported by malicious ZIP/APK files, forged or misused e‑KYC to activate SIMs, split transfers into 1,700+ mule accounts, and conversion of proceeds into cryptocurrency.
- Investigations are expanding with national coordination through I4C and the cybercrime portal as officers trace bank and crypto flows, expect more arrests, and warn that dispersed mule accounts and cross‑border crypto moves make full asset recovery difficult.