Guwahati: A few pockets of the Bangladeshi-origin Muslim-dominated areas in Assam have become the base of cyber fraud and scams across the country. Likewise, a Miya-Muslim majority district Barpeta in the state has turned out to be the nerve centre of a massive international cyber fraud racket. In a coordinated operation with Assam police on August 17, Gujarat Police arrested a 25-year-old man involved in a cybercrime syndicate that has swindled people across the country of more than Rs 1,071 crore.
The Gujarat Police’s Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCE) arrested cybercriminal Rafiqul Alam of Sanchuka village near Barpeta Road. It seized mobile phones and other electronic gadgets used in the digital arrest scams.
Assam police top sources said that Alam was not just a small player. He is suspected of laundering money collected through “digital arrest” scams and other online frauds. Alom is involved in depositing the money in hundreds of bank accounts opened with fake documents and converting it into cryptocurrency. He then sends the cryptocurrency to handlers in unknown locations in China. Police revealed that Alam breaks large sums into tiny bitcoin pieces and sends them to Chinese handlers through 1750 fake bank accounts within an hour. The whole system was set up to dodge India’s banking and anti-money-laundering systems.
Police sources further revealed that arrested Alam was in direct touch with individuals in China over WhatsApp and Telegram, sharing scanners, login credentials, and crypto wallet details, and receiving instructions on how to run the scam. After detailed scrutiny of his mobile phone, cyber police found that Alam possesses 23 different cryptocurrency wallets, through which over Rs 16 crore had been transferred to Chinese handlers.
Gujarat police cracked the entire racket after an elderly victim who was trapped in a “live” digital arrest scam — where fraudsters pretend to be police or government officials and threaten victims, often over video calls, telling them they are under investigation and must pay up immediately to avoid arrest. In this case, the victim had even been shown fake letters made to look like they came from the Maharashtra Police and the Supreme Court of India.
While investigating this single case, the Gujarat Police Cyber Cell found that Alom was involved in over 1090 digital arrest and fraud scams worth Rs. 1071 crores across the country. The investigating team found that Alom targeted many people across Gujarat and collected crores of rupees. After the arrest of Alam, police found that a bigger international racket was involved behind it, which includes Chinese handlers, cryptocurrency and money laundering.
Another racket of cyber criminals:
In a separate case, police in Hailakandi district arrested four last week, who also have a direct link with Chinese hackers. The four accused have been booked for online financial fraud, stealing personal data, hacking, and running illegal online gambling platforms. Police said the arrested cyber criminals were in regular contact with Chinese hackers and involved in money laundering. Interestingly this group has been extensively using artificial intelligence to trap victims in cyber fraud. Police identified the arrested cyber criminals as Gaurav Roy Choudhury, Jaharul Hasan Choudhury, Abu Zahid Barbhuyan, and Mamadul Hasan Choudhury. During the raid, police seized two cars, six mobile phones, four ATM cards, and other digital evidence linked to the case.
