₹33 crore fraud, 33 lakh job seekers: Gujarat cyber cops bust pan-India scam linked to Chinese gang

The Gujarat Police Cyber Crime Cell in Surat arrested the alleged mastermind of an interstate cyber fraud network linked to a Chinese gang. The accused, traced to Chennai after intensive technical surveillance, was allegedly responsible for providing mule bank accounts used to route illegally obtained money, convert it into USDT, and move it to Dubai. Police recovered multiple electronic devices containing details of 34 bank accounts linked to 113 cybercrime complaints across India, involving a suspected fraud exceeding ₹33.14 crore.

The racket allegedly operated multiple fraudulent schemes, including fake work-from-home data entry jobs and stock market investment traps. Call centres allegedly targeted over 33 lakh job seekers whose data was purportedly sourced from job-providing websites. Victims were lured with registration fees and subsequently trapped using a bogus software platform called 'Care Compass', where they were denied payment under the pretext of poor work accuracy. Additionally, investors were promised high returns on stock market and gold-related investments through fraudulent links.

Before the arrest of the main accused, police had already arrested four alleged accomplices from Ahmedabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajkot, including an individual whose interrogation provided crucial leads. The investigation revealed that the main accused had previously lived in Dubai and operated a US Forex-related website before returning to India. Undercover police personnel conducted a two-day reconnaissance using rickshaws in Chennai to confirm his location before making the arrest.

Authorities are currently analyzing the seized digital evidence, including laptops and mobile phones, to trace the source of the job seekers' data, identify the call centre networks, and uncover the full international money trail. Investigators are examining connections to overseas handlers and checking whether the same infrastructure was utilized in other unlinked cyber fraud cases.

Not yet reported: The exact dates of the arrests and the specific criminal charges or legal sections cited against the accused are not reported.