New Delhi: In a significant breakthrough, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday busted a transnational cybercrime racket and seized cryptocurrencies worth Rs 2.8 crore. The premiere investigation agency also arrested an accused, identified as Rahul Arora, after conducting searches at three locations.
The crackdown on cyber syndicate and the subsequent recovery of cryptocurrencies from the accused’s possession came as part of CBI’s ‘Chakra-V’- the sustained operation against incidents of cybercrime.
Under the Chakra V, the agency has been tackling dynamic and evolving threats posed by cyber criminals and bringing the cybercriminals to justice while safeguarding citizens across borders from digital exploitation.
The accused Rahul Arora will be produced before the Special CBI court today.
Meanwhile, the agency sleuths are conducting further searches to track down his other associates of the cyber syndicate and also to unearth transnational links for laundering money gathered in the form of digital assets.
The case came to light after the agency got inputs of the cyber syndicate operating from the country and targeting unsuspecting individuals in the USA and Canada by impersonating as government officials and representatives of reputed tech support companies.
Based on gathered intelligence, the agency conducted searches and uncovered incriminating evidence by busting the syndicate’s operation in transnational cyber fraud.
The seized materials include tools for making international calls with masked caller identity, a lead-generation mechanism based on social engineering tactics, voice recordings, and other components of cybercrime ecosystem.
Following the searches, the CBI seized proceeds of crime in the form of Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) worth ₹2.8 crores. Apart from this, unaccounted cash amounting to ₹22 lakhs was obtained from possession of the suspect.
The discovery and seizure of VDAs from the cyber syndicate, operating beyond borders, marks yet another success for the agency as it carries out ambitious drive to combat incidents of cybercrime by using cutting-edge technology.
(IANS)
