Gurgaon Police have dismantled a sophisticated cybercrime network linked to over 18,000 digital fraud cases nationwide, with 55 cybercriminals arrested. The crackdown, spearheaded by ACP Priyanshu Dewan of Cyber Crime, uncovered a syndicate responsible for frauds worth ₹72.5 crore across 597 FIRs, including 48 in Haryana alone.
The 48 state-level cases span Gurgaon’s Cyber East (10), Cyber West (8), and Cyber South (3) police stations. Critical evidence recovered during the raid included 21 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, 2 ATM cards, a cheque book, passbook, and ₹30 lakh in cash. All recovered data and devices are now being analyzed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), revealing links to cyber frauds nationwide.
840 Arrests in Four Months, Victims of Greed and Desperation
This arrest adds to a massive wave of crackdowns, with 840 accused arrested in the past four months alone. Most were arrested in Rajasthan (177) and Uttar Pradesh (172), followed by Delhi (96), Madhya Pradesh (37), Gujarat (36), and Bihar (31). The scale and spread underscore how deeply cybercrime has penetrated across states.
Police investigations revealed an organized ecosystem of fraud built on fake investment schemes, sextortion, FedEx impersonation frauds, digital arrest threats, and honeytraps. According to ACP Dewan, “They prey on human emotions—greed, lust, fear. Investment scams alone account for 30-40% of total frauds.”
The syndicates operate with the precision of corporate entities, using specialized teams—tech handlers, social media baiters, mule recruiters, and foreign handlers. Many operations are coordinated from Southeast Asian scam factories based in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Dubai, police revealed.
Account Mules, Telegram Deals, and a Digital Shell Game
A troubling trend emerged during the probe: ordinary Indians—students, women, and small shopkeepers—selling their bank accounts for easy cash, ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh. One student in Gurgaon admitted he sold his account to a scammer while preparing for competitive exams due to financial hardship.
Money trails showed how funds stolen from victims are quickly rerouted through multiple bank accounts, creating a digital shell game that complicates tracking. “By the time we locate one account, the money has already moved elsewhere. It’s like chasing shadows,” an investigating officer said.
Police also dismantled a fake Chartered Accountant (CA) gang, which tricked people with fraudulent investment schemes. The accused—Alok Sharma (56), Dhruv Chawla (22), Muhammad Sujat (18), and Amanpreet Singh (18)—were caught illegally selling and reselling bank accounts.
Chawla, posing as a fake CA, bought an account from Sharma for ₹40,000 and sold it to Sujat for ₹20,000. Sujat then passed it to Singh for ₹25,000, who further sold it on Telegram to another unknown scammer. Four mobile phones were recovered from the group, exposing transactional evidence.
The Road Ahead: Cyber Policing Needs Scale and Speed
This case exposes not only the vast web of organized cybercrime in India but also the urgent need for comprehensive cybersecurity awareness, digital literacy, and enhanced coordination between states and central cybercrime units.
Authorities are urging the public to be cautious of too-good-to-be-true investment offers, random messages from unknown contacts, and requests for personal financial data. The use of common platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, and UPI for illicit activities continues to challenge traditional policing methods.
The Gurgaon crackdown is a reminder that cybercriminals aren’t lone wolves—they operate in networks as structured as corporations. And it will take equally structured, technologically empowered, and resource-backed responses to dismantle them.