An assistant professor of an engineering college in Chennai has been arrested by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Tamil Nadu police for his alleged involvement in a ‘digital arrest’ scam.
Additional Director General of Police Sandeep Mittal said investigations revealed that the accused Parasuraman “was involved in suspicious account operations and illicit activities for a period of two years.” He received ₹1.20 lakh per transaction and used this amount to settle his debts, Mr. Mittal added.
Parasuraman, 35, a native of Dharmapuri district and resident of Arcot Road, Kodambakkam, had an ME in electronics and electrical engineering from Anna University and was working at an engineering college in Kodambakkam, the police said.
What is the case about?
The police launched an investigation into the ‘digital arrest’ fraud following a complaint from a victim in Chidambaram. The incident was reported on November 12 last year.
The victim got a phone call from a scammer pretending to be an official from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). The scammer enquired about an unknown person, falsely alleging that the said person engaged in money laundering activities using the victim’s Aadhaar card. The fraudster then threatened the victim, saying an arrest warrant had been issued against him.
To appear more credible, the fraudster sent him a fabricated copy of the arrest warrant. The victim was then subjected to an online interrogation, and he was instructed to transfer funds from his bank account to a “supervision account” supposedly created to facilitate his release from the fake arrest.
Convinced by the act, the victim complied with the scamster’s instructions and transferred an amount of ₹3,84,00,000 from his bank accounts to various account numbers provided by the fraudster through WhatsApp. It was only later that the petitioner discovered he had fallen victim to a sophisticated scam, after which he filed a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
After analysing the call records and account details, a special team of police last December arrested five persons — including Mathangi Harish Babu, 34, Logesh, 30, from Ayapakkam, both mule account agents; and S. Afroz, 31, from Kavangarai, an operator who used trading agencies to convert illicit funds. The others arrested were Karthikeyan, a private bank assistant manager, and Ramesh, who was involved in converting illicit cryptocurrency into Indian rupee.
Unearthing a network
An officer said following their arrest, the police took up a deeper investigation and found that Parasuraman, the assistant professor, was also involved. The police have identified the mastermind of the network as Karuna, who is yet to be arrested, and that he has had a long-standing relationship with Parasuraman, dating back to their school and college days.
Further investigations revealed that Parasuraman played a crucial role in concealing properties belonging to the accused persons. These properties were received through various delivery applications from previously arrested persons.
It was also found that Parasuraman had been involved in suspicious account operations and illicit activities for approximately two years. In exchange for his involvement, he received a lump-sum commission, the police said.
