CBI arrests cyber-fraud syndicate kingpin from Delhi airport

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) The CBI on Monday arrested the kingpin of a transnational cyber-fraud syndicate from the Indira Gandhi International Airport here when he was trying to flee the country, officials said.

The syndicate was busted by the federal agency in May.

Arjun Prakash, who was running the syndicate under the camouflage of a Noida-based company called "FirstIdea", was nabbed from the airport with the help of immigration officers when he was attempting to board a flight to Kathmandu in Nepal, the officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) busted the cyber-fraud syndicate in May under its ongoing Operation Chakra, acting in close coordination with the FBI, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Microsoft Corporation, a spokesperson of the agency said in a statement.

A search operation conducted at multiple locations in Noida exposed a fraudulent call centre operating under the name "FirstIdea" from the Noida Special Economic Zone. It was subsequently dismantled.

The call centre was running a tech-support scam targeting people in Australia, the United Kingdom and European Union (EU) countries.

"The raids led to a seizure of incriminating digital infrastructure and the arrest of a key accused," the agency said.

Prakash had set up FirstIdea, managed its operations and is a beneficiary of the scam proceeds, the officials said.

He was on the run since the CBI lodged the case against him, they added. PTI ABS RC