By: Express News ServiceDecember 30, 2025 12:03 PM IST 4 min readIn October 2025, an Indian-origin woman, who lives in the United States, allegedly received a WhatsApp call around 3 am. She was visiting Delhi at the time. The caller, who claimed to be from the San Francisco embassy, told her she needed an NOC (no objection certificate) to go back to the US as there was a case registered against her in India.A spate of video calls from people in police uniform followed. The callers allegedly placed her under “digital arrest”, threatened her and demanded Rs 30 lakh for quashing the case against her.Around the same time, in a separate case, a resident of Bank Enclave in New Delhi was allegedly lured into a fake investment scheme through a WhatsApp group, and duped of Rs 31.45 lakh after being convinced to install an app called ‘Cventura’, which promised high returns.These two, as per the Delhi Police’s Inter State Cell, are among several people targeted by a highly organised interstate cyber fraud network. On December 27, the Crime Branch arrested two key accused in these cases, uncovering a racket which used digital arrest tactics, fake trading apps, and a web of “mule” bank accounts spanning multiple states to run its operations.The NRI had arrived in Delhi from San Francisco on October 1. “The initial call she got was from someone impersonating an embassy official. They then transferred the call to fraudsters who claimed to be from the Delhi Police Headquarters. They video-called her on October 6 around 3 am,” police officers said. They wore fake police uniforms, sent continuous threats to the victim and placed her under what they called virtual or digital arrest. The woman eventually transferred Rs 30 lakh on October 9, into a mule account, police said.Investigation revealed that the money was transferred into an account under the name of a partnership firm, M/s Varnav Infotech, in Punjab’s SAS Nagar. The firm had two partners — Varun from Mohali and Navjot Chaudhary from Balachaur, officers said. The money was transferred to multiple other accounts and subsequently withdrawn through cheques in different states — a technique designed to make the trail nearly impossible to follow.On December 27, following raids in Mohali and Chandigarh, Varun was arrested. He was an authorised signatory of the first-layer beneficiary account. Following a search, 38 ATM cards of various banks, 51 cheque books, five passbooks, four mobile phones, a laptop, a Mahindra Scorpio car, and Rs 2.45 lakh in cash were seized.Story continues below this adDuring questioning, Varun said he had previously operated a call centre in Mohali. After incurring losses, he shut it down. One of the accused then approached him. “He opened a current account in his firm’s name and handed over its debit card, cheque book and SIM card to the accused,” DCP (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam. The accused facilitated the transfer of Rs 30 lakh into this account and paid Varun Rs 5 lakh as commission for letting him use the account.An investigation is underway. The Bank Enclave victim had got an invitation to join an “investment group” on WhatsApp. Police said he was persuaded to download the Cventura app and transfer money into six different bank accounts after being promised substantial returns. After the money was transferred, the WhatsApp group was dissolved, and the app “non-functional”. A case was registered and handed to the Crime Branch.“The money was routed through multiple mule bank accounts,” said the DCP. Following technical surveillance and scrutiny of the bank accounts, raids were conducted in Ludhiana in Punjab, where two first-layer account-holders were arrested. Further investigation led police to Gujarat, where they apprehended Arjun Singh (39), a resident of Surendra Nagar.Singh operated a second-layer mule account where a portion of the defrauded amount was credited. He withdrew the funds and received Rs 2 lakh as commission.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd