Victim-turned-fraudster: Delhi's CyberHawk operation nets man who was once cheated in 2018 fraud case

Mohammad Mehtab Alam, 36, who lost ₹999 to a fraud in 2018, was recently arrested in connection with a job scam uncovered during ‘Cyber Hawk’, an anti-cybercrime drive by the Delhi Police, according to a report by the Indian Express.

Back in 2018, Alam had reported a similar fraud to the police, but his complaint was allegedly not pursued seriously because the monetary loss was considered too small.

“They scammed people by promising jobs. So far, we have traced about 300 victims and identified transactions totalling roughly ₹3 crore, with the amount likely to increase. We have also found 16 bank accounts linked to the racket and seized 23 debit cards, a hard disk, 18 laptops, and 20 mobile phones,” said DCP (South-East) Dr Hemant Tiwari, IE reported.

According to the police, Alam began defrauding people in 2019 and admitted to operating a call-centre-like bogus job racket.

The case surfaced after a Shaheen Bagh resident reported that he had been cheated of ₹13,500 on the promise of getting a job.

Operation CyHawk: 95 booked for involvement in organised cybercrime

The Delhi Police have detained 381 individuals, charged 95 suspects involved in organised cyber fraud, and filed 24 FIRs in the Central Delhi district as part of Operation CyHawk, one of their largest anti-cybercrime drives on Monday, PTI reported, citing an official.

Over the 48-hour operation, which concluded at 9 am on November 21, officers seized 1,843 mobile phones, three laptops, 84 ATM cards, fake insurance papers and forged company stamps.

They also recovered ₹10.28 lakh in cash.

An unlicensed call centre operating from the West Patel Nagar area, which allegedly duped people on the pretext of vehicle insurance policy renewal, was also busted.

One accused, Khemchand (33), was arrested, and laptops, 11 mobile phones, fake policy letters, rubber stamps of insurance companies and ₹10 lakh in cash were seized, police said, as reported by PTI.

In one of the major actions during the crackdown, police dismantled an illegal mobile manufacturing and IMEI-tampering unit that was being used to facilitate cyber fraud.

Among individual cases, a 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly defrauding a 73-year-old victim of ₹22.86 lakh on the pretext of offering assistance in securing an 'exclusive' credit card for retired employees.

Police said several individuals involved in various cyber offences -- including ATM-related frauds, mule account operations and impersonation cases -- were also arrested during the drive.

"In total, 381 people were detained across the district, and large quantities of mobile devices, ATM cards, fake insurance documents and digital tools used for cyber fraud were seized," the officer said.

(With inputs from PTI, IE)