ED Arrests 4 From TN In Cyber Fraud Case

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), all four accused were engaged in the incorporation of shell companies and opening of bank accounts, through which proceeds of crime generated from the cyber scam were laundered.

New Delhi:The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has made four fresh arrests in Tamil Nadu in a cybercrime case in which the accused allegedly posed as CBI and Delhi Police officers to dupe people of money worth crores.

Tamilarasan Kuppan (29), Prakash (26), Aravindan I (23) and Ajith (28) were taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday from Pallipattu in Tamil Nadu, it said.

A special court sent them to four days of ED custody, the central agency said in a statement. The arrests were made in the case registered in Bengaluru related to cyber fraud of Rs 2.6 crore, it said. The agency had arrested four people in this case last month from Bengaluru and they continue to be in judicial custody.

"All the four accused (arrested on September 13) were involved in the incorporation of shell companies and opening of bank accounts, through which proceeds of crime generated from the cyber scam were laundered," the ED said. The money laundering case stems from police FIRs filed in various states, apart from one filed by the cyber police in September in Jaipur.

As per the Rajasthan FIR, the ED said, the victim received a call from a mobile number with a person claiming to be calling from the "Bombay Customs office". The victim was told that illegal goods were being sent abroad under their name and he was then made to make a 'fund legalisation' payment as a security to ensure that no money had been illegally earned by the victim.

Rs 2.16 crore was asked to be transferred by the fraudsters in three separate instalments into three different accounts provided by the caller, the agency said. Subsequently, an individual who claimed to be a CBI officer contacted the victim, apart from another fraudster who claimed he was a DCP in the Delhi Police.

"On the insistence of so-called government officials, the victim was pressurised and extorted of his entire life savings and investments, amounting to Rs 2.16 crore," the ED said. The ED said it froze Rs 2.8 crore worth of funds kept in a Bandhan Bank account of "shell company" Cyberforest Technology Private Limited on September 12 in which the proceeds were transferred by the victim.

"A WhatsApp group was used by the four accused along with some Chinese scammers. Tamilarasan was in contact with Chinese cyber fraudsters for siphoning off the amount of Rs 2.8 crore frozen in Bandhan Bank," the ED said. As many as 17 searches have been conducted by the agency in this cyber "scam" till now in which Rs 28 crore worth of proceeds of crime has been identified.

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