Fake web sites, counterfeit goods, bogus delivery charges and fraudulent customer support agents are common warning signs.
Police in Thane district have arrested 10 individuals for allegedly operating a work-from-home scam. The fraudsters reportedly lured job seekers, collected their bank details and SIM cards, and then diverted their money into illegal online betting platforms. The racket was exposed following a complaint, leading to a raid in Mumbai where several electronic devices were seized and the accused apprehended.
A 22-year-old IT professional in Pune allegedly died by suicide, with his family suspecting harassment by cyber fraudsters involved in a digital arrest scam. Police are investigating the case and examining financial transactions.
Four individuals have been arrested by the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Police in Maharashtra for allegedly constructing approximately 2,000 unauthorised structures on land earmarked for the Virar-Alibaug Multi-modal Corridor project. The accused reportedly forged documents to illegally claim compensation, exploiting advance intelligence about state land acquisition between 2022 and 2023. The ongoing investigation has uncovered a wider criminal conspiracy, leading to severe charges under the Indian Penal Code.
Police in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, have arrested a father-son duo and an associate for allegedly running an elaborate job scam. They defrauded job seekers of lakhs of rupees by promising overseas employment using fake visas, flight tickets, and other forged documents. The accused operated a cyber centre and used online advertisements to lure victims, collecting money in instalments before providing fraudulent paperwork.
Delhi Police have arrested 11 individuals involved in multiple "digital-arrest" scams, recovering over Rs 12 crore. The scams, linked to handlers in Southeast Asia, have affected 78 complainants nationwide, totaling Rs 73 crore. A retired scientist was defrauded of Rs 1.25 crore, with the entire amount frozen. The investigation uncovered a network arranging mule bank accounts and using cryptocurrency for commissions.
A man from Kochi has been arrested in connection with a 'digital arrest' scam that defrauded a retired judge in Rajasthan of Rs 2.5 crore. The accused allegedly threatened the judge with false links to hawala transactions and the Pulwama case, leading to his apprehension in a coordinated police operation.
The Delhi Police's Financial Monitoring Cell prevented potential losses of Rs 1.53 crore in "digital arrest" scams across five states. Their Proactive Victim Identification and Protection Team intervened to save multiple victims, including senior citizens, from transferring additional money to fraudsters who impersonated officials and threatened arrest for fabricated crimes.
A businessman from Vrindavan, Ratan Lal Agarwal, was defrauded of Rs 30 lakh in a "digital arrest" scam. A cyber fraudster, posing as an ATS officer, threatened Agarwal with a criminal case linked to his wife's mobile number and kept him under constant surveillance, coercing him into transferring the money. Police have registered a case and frozen part of the scammed amount.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that Rs 860-Rs 880 crore generated from an alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh during the previous Congress regime was delivered to the Pradesh Congress Committee office in Raipur. The agency filed a supplementary chargesheet against former PCC treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal and provisionally attached his properties worth Rs 9.06 crore. The ED alleges a liquor syndicate controlled the state excise department, generating over Rs 2,883 crore in illegal proceeds.
The Chhattisgarh Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) has filed its 10th supplementary charge sheet in the alleged liquor scam, accusing 20 individuals, including former state Congress treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, and 22 firms. The 27,000-page document details illegal liquor production, hawala transactions, and investment of illicit proceeds. The scam, estimated by the ED to be between 2019 and 2022, involved a complex network of illegal liquor sales, duplicate holograms, and routing of funds.
The Enforcement Directorate has made its sixth arrest, Mukesh Kumar Pukhraj Jain, in a pan-India cyber fraud and digital arrest case involving transactions worth Rs 30,000 crore. Jain is accused of acting as an RTGS agent for the criminal network. The probe, initiated by a Goa Police FIR, uncovered a vast money laundering operation across 20 states, with funds converted into foreign currency and linked to numerous shell companies.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar warned that replying 'NO' to unsolicited WhatsApp messages regarding unauthorised bank debits could allow fraudsters to steal your money without needing an OTP or a link.
Bollywood actor Dino Morea was questioned by Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for six hours regarding the alleged Rs 65 crore Mithi river desilting scam. The investigation focuses on financial irregularities in a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) sanitation contract, where key accused allegedly siphoned off funds. Morea's name emerged due to communications and suspected financial transactions with one of the accused. Federal agencies, including the ED, are also probing the case for money laundering.
The CBI has initiated an investigation into an alleged Rs 65-crore investment scam involving Viswadeepthi Multi State Agri Co-operative Society Ltd, following a directive from the Kerala High Court. The society is accused of inducing public deposits with high interest rates but failing to repay them, leading to significant financial losses for depositors.
Rajasthan Police arrested Wasim Hussain in Gurugram for his alleged role in a cyber fraud case. A Jaipur resident was swindled out of Rs 22 lakh after fraudsters, posing as an American citizen, promised a job abroad for his son and demanded various clearance fees. Hussain allegedly provided mule bank accounts used to receive part of the defrauded amount.
Do not share OTPs, PINs, authentication codes, card numbers, card verification values (CVVs), KYC details, security answers, Internet-banking passwords or Aadhaar-based authentication credentials through SMS, e-mail or phone calls.
Keralam police have issued a public caution against cyber fraudsters who use fake customer care numbers of banks and e-commerce platforms to deceive individuals and steal their personal and financial information. Fraudsters post fake numbers online, then contact victims posing as support agents, asking them to install remote access apps or make small payments to gain access to sensitive data.
A frozen phone screen, a fake customer-care call, a screen-sharing request or even a duplicate SIM can give cybercriminals a route into your bank account.
The Chhattisgarh Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) has filed its sixth supplementary charge sheet in the alleged coal levy scam, naming 12 individuals including Congress MLA Devendra Singh Yadav, former state Congress treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, and IAS officer Jai Prakash Maurya. The scam involves an alleged illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne collected from coal transporters by a syndicate of bureaucrats, businessmen, and politicians, with handwritten diaries indicating collections of around Rs 540 crore.
A man, Manoj Talekar, was detained in Panaji after he allegedly paid Rs 27 lakh for a fake government job appointment and attempted to occupy the additional excise commissioner's chair. He claimed to have an appointment letter for the Goa Excise Department post, leading to his detention and an FIR for impersonation. Police are now searching for the alleged scammer, Ajit Shankhwalkar.
The Karnataka CID is investigating alleged irregularities in the KPSC veterinary officer recruitment exam, questioning 40 candidates and arresting suspended IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar. The probe has revealed financial links, with significant deposits traced to accounts connected to candidates and middlemen, and has frozen substantial amounts. The High Court has ordered a fresh probe by an SIT.
Mumbai Cyber Police have apprehended six individuals, including an IIT graduate and a bank manager, for allegedly defrauding a senior citizen of Rs 1.12 crore through a "digital arrest" scam. The victim was coerced into transferring funds after being threatened with family arrest by impersonators.
The Union Home Ministry has issued a stern advisory to states and Union Territories, highlighting a "dangerous trend" of human trafficking through "overseas recruitment scams." These scams lure victims with promises of high-paying jobs abroad, only to trap them in "CyberFraud Centres." The ministry has called for a "specialised offensive" involving various state agencies to combat this growing menace, emphasising strict enforcement, agency verification, and public awareness.
Gujarat CID-Crime has registered FIRs against three political outfits Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party, Satyavadi Rakshak Party, and Garib Kalyan Party for allegedly orchestrating a 'poll donation scam' amounting to Rs 314 crore in tax evasion. These parties reportedly collected donations, returned money after deducting commissions, and facilitated tax rebates for donors, with chartered accountants also implicated. The scam involved submitting false contribution reports to the Election Commission.
Kerala Police have issued a warning against online fraudsters selling fake tickets for the upcoming India-West Indies first ODI match in Thiruvananthapuram. Scammers use social media to lure victims, collect personal details, and demand multiple payments under various pretexts, advising the public to only use official booking platforms.
Two builders have been arrested by the Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar Police in Maharashtra for allegedly constructing an illegal eight-storey residential building in Virar using forged construction permissions and cheating 113 flat purchasers. The developers used fake commencement certificates and fraudulent documents. They are currently in police custody until October 29.
A textile company director in Thane was allegedly defrauded of Rs 20.58 crore by five individuals who promised to secure loans for factory expansion and government uniform supply contracts. The accused reportedly misused financial documents and misappropriated funds.
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in Idukki, Kerala, has registered a case against three individuals, including two former office-bearers of Adimaly Grama Panchayat, for allegedly misappropriating Rs 68.62 lakh in a goat distribution scheme meant for 2018 flood-affected people. The accused are alleged to have conspired to award a contract for goat supply to an unlicensed individual, leading to a significant financial loss to the government.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has rejected a petition by the Enforcement Directorate to add charges of receiving and concealing stolen property in the alleged Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association fund scam. While the court upheld the ED's right to file such an application, it found insufficient merit in the current material to invoke sections 411 and 424 of the Ranbir Penal Code, stating that the alleged acts were part of the principal transaction of conspiracy and breach of trust.
Three men, including one posing as a tantric, have been arrested in northeast Delhi for allegedly cheating a 79-year-old man of Rs 39.3 lakh. The accused promised to extract buried ancestral gold through occult rituals and also stole gold jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh from his home. The main accused, Tahsin, along with Shoaib Ali and Mahakader Khan, gained the victim's confidence through fake gold and staged rituals, leading to their arrest and recovery of cash and other items.
A Delhi court has ordered the framing of money laundering charges against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav, and six others in the alleged IRCTC hotel scam. The court found strong suspicion of a manipulated tender for railway hotels and a quid pro quo involving land transfer at undervalued rates.
For the second time in two years, Karnataka minister B Nagendra resigned from the state Cabinet on Friday amid the Opposition heat over his alleged involvement in the Rs 89 crore Valmiki Corporation scam.
The Karnataka Cyber Command Unit has busted an illegal SIM box network operating from two apartments in Bengaluru's Whitefield division, leading to four arrests. The network is suspected of facilitating digital-arrest scams, sextortion, and other financial cyber frauds across India, with potential financial exposure running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Investigations are ongoing to establish the full extent of the network and its links to the e-SIM supply chain.
Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch has uncovered a Rs 1.5 crore WhatsApp fraud, leading to the arrest of two key SIM and OTP suppliers in West Bengal. The investigation revealed a sophisticated international cybercrime network spanning China, Pakistan, India, and Hong Kong, operating a "boss scam" and utilizing a "Cybercrime as a Service" model. Police recovered a significant portion of the defrauded amount and secured thousands of devices.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch Jammu has filed a chargesheet against two individuals, Manoj Kumar and Vikram Singh, in a financial fraud case involving over Rs 1.22 crore collected from investors in Samba district. The accused allegedly induced residents to invest in schemes from unregistered or de-registered NBFCs, promising high returns but failing to deliver.
A graphic designer, Pankaj Gupta, was arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch for creating malicious Android Package Kit (APK) files that enabled cyber fraudsters to cheat over 9,600 people of Rs 150 crore. Gupta, who previously escaped a digital arrest scam, developed APKs disguised as government services, selling them to cybercriminal networks in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, currently jailed, has written a letter to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and ex-minister Satyender Jain, threatening to expose three more "key scams" involving the Aam Aadmi Party, following previous allegations related to the 'Liquor policy' and 'Jal Board' cases.
The current Managing Committee of the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) has rejected allegations of a Rs 50 crore accounting mismatch flagged by an audit report, asserting that the discrepancies occurred during the tenure of the previous committee.
The BJP in Keralam has demanded a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) during the previous LDF regime. Senior BJP leader P K Krishnadas accused the current UDF government of attempting to sabotage corruption cases and expressed a lack of faith in state-level investigations. The demand follows an expert panel report highlighting financial irregularities in KIIFB.
