A major cyber fraud racket that targeted traders and exporters by promising access to lucrative foreign buyers and international business opportunities has been busted in Delhi. Investigators say the highly organised network used fake overseas purchase orders, fabricated advance payment claims, and fraudulent certification requirements to systematically extract money from unsuspecting businesses. Nine individuals have been arrested following a targeted raid, while the alleged masterminds remain on the run.
The case surfaced in West Delhi’s Dwarka area after investigators tracking suspicious cybercrime-related financial activity identified an anomalous bank account. The account had already been linked to multiple active complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Further data analysis led authorities to a fraudulent call centre operating out of Aggarwal Mall in Sector-5, Dwarka, which served as the network’s operational headquarters.
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The Aggarwal Mall Raid and Arrests
During the raid, Dwarka district police arrested bank account holder Poonam, call centre manager Rakib Hasan Shamsi, and core technical associates Gaurav Kumar, Shivam Singh, Amandeep, Anita Singh, Bhoomi, Insha, and Karishma. Investigators seized multiple smartphones, digital calling logs, targeted customer databases, and forged documentation scripts that are currently undergoing forensic examination.
Questioning of the detained staff revealed that the syndicate was orchestrated by two primary operators, Shobha Rani Thapa and Amarnath Singh, both of whom are currently absconding. Authorities believe the operation has a vast footprint, with victims and illicit financial links spread across multiple states.
The Multi-Stage Certification Trap
The investigation has uncovered a structured, multi-stage B2B fraud model engineered specifically to exploit manufacturers, exporters, and small business owners through a clear cross-border pipeline. The sequence initiated with a lead harvesting phase, where the syndicate scraped contact details, product catalogs, and corporate registries from open business directories and online trade platforms like IndiaMART. Following this, the operation transitioned into the onboarding bait stage as call center agents contacted the targets, posing as procurement executives representing major international corporations interested in bulk item imports.
To lock in trust during the buyer impersonation phase, the gang collected an initial nominal registration fee of ₹999, which was immediately followed by a co-conspirator posing as a foreign buyer contacting the trader to confirm that a massive export contract had been approved and a 50 percent advance payment was ready for wire transfer. The trap ultimately concluded with a regulatory certification extortion phase, where the fake buyer informed the trader that the multi-crore international wire could not clear unless the exporter uploaded specialized documentation, specifically demanding ISO, CTPAT, or Import Export Code (IEC) clearances. When the victims stated they lacked these documents, the fraudsters offered to process them overnight through their empanelled agencies for hefty fees ranging into lakhs.
Exploitation of the B2B Trade Ecosystem
Authorities established that the certification packages provided by the gang were completely fabricated or irrelevant templates, used solely as compliance props to drain cash from business owners eager to scale into global markets. Financial units are tracing the money trails across the seized mule accounts to locate where the extracted tranches were ultimately channeled.
Renowned cyber crime expert and former IPS officer Prof. Triveni Singh warned that cybercriminals are heavily shifting focus away from traditional retail banking scams to target the commercial B2B export sector. He emphasized that fraudsters rely on establishing an early illusion of profitability via small token payments before dropping heavy, unexpected regulatory fees on the victim.
Singh advised small business owners to independently verify overseas purchase orders through official embassy trade desks, cross-check intermediary licenses, and never rely on documentation channels provided exclusively by the buyer. Dwarka police have registered a comprehensive case under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have deployed specialized teams to track down the fleeing masterminds.
