CBI arrests cyber criminal, seizes Rs 2.8 crore of cryptocurrencies

New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday said it has arrested a person as part of a crackdown on a cybercrime racket targeting unsuspecting individuals in the USA and Canada by impersonating government officials and tech support executives.

The accused, Rahul Arora, was arrested during searches conducted at three locations on Tuesday, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson said in a statement.

Cryptocurrencies worth Rs 2.8 crore along with unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 22 lakh were seized from his possession, it said.

The action was part of an ongoing CBI operation against cyber criminals -- 'Chakra-V'. The CBI had registered a case in the matter after receiving information about the racket which was targeting "unsuspecting individuals in the USA and Canada by impersonating... government officials and representatives of reputed tech support companies", the spokesperson said.

The CBI worked on the information by developing intelligence on the activities of the gang members, followed by searches at their premises.

The searches resulted in the seizure of incriminating evidence about the gang's operation, including tools for making international calls with masked caller identity, a lead-generation mechanism based on social engineering tactics, voice recordings and other components of the cybercrime ecosystem, the agency said.

"Notably, the CBI has developed in-house capabilities for handling and seizure of Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) as part of its technology-driven approach for combating cybercrime.

"The agency has also put in place necessary systems for the management of such assets as per legal provisions. The CBI has been successfully detecting and seizing VDAs in its various search operations," the spokesperson said.