New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) A cyber crook involved in duping Japanese citizens through a fraudulent tech support was arrested by the CBI at Bhubaneswar Airport on his return to India, an official said on Saturday.

Dwibendu Moharana, a key accused in a transnational cybercrime syndicate, was arrested on October 30 and subsequently sent to CBI custody by a court for interrogation, the official said in a statement.

The federal probe agency said that following coordinated searches on May 28 at 19 locations across Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, which led to the arrest of six operatives, Moharana absconded from Bhubaneswar to the UAE on May 29.

He flew out of the country immediately after his call centre at Voip Connect Pvt Limited, Noida, was uncovered, the CBI said.

Investigations revealed that he operated an illegal call centre involved in sophisticated social engineering and deception, impersonating support personnel from multinational companies to coerce Japanese victims into transferring funds under false pretences.

Upon his arrest on October 30, Moharana was brought to Delhi on a transit warrant and produced before the Special CBI Court. He has been remanded to police custody for three days for custodial interrogation.

The CBI said that it has, so far, arrested seven individuals in this case and filed charge sheets against all. All the accused are currently under judicial custody.

The operation, carried out with close cooperation from the National Police Agency of Japan and Microsoft Corporation, has significantly disrupted the syndicate’s operations, said the CBI.

The probe agency reiterated that it is committed to combating cyber-enabled financial crimes and assured the public of its ongoing strategic, multi-agency efforts to dismantle transnational cybercrime networks.

On October 8, the CBI carried out coordinated, nationwide searches at approximately 40 locations across Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal in connection with a transnational cyber-enabled “digital arrest” fraud, as part of ongoing Operation Chakra V.

The central agency said that it had registered a comprehensive FIR, based on the complaints received on the NCRP Portal of I4C MHA from nine different victims of digital arrest.

“The CBI then conducted a detailed investigation by focusing on both mule accounts and telecommunication channels used to approach the victim. This led to the identification of approximately 40 individuals who were part of the organised cybercrime network perpetrating the digital arrest fraud,” said the probe agency in a statement.

–IANS

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