Delhi Police bust foreign-linked cybercrime syndicate that duped victims of Rs 100 crore

The Delhi Police have busted an international cybercrime syndicate with links to Taiwan, Cambodia, Pakistan and Nepal that allegedly defrauded people across India of nearly Rs 100 crore by impersonating law-enforcement officers and placing victims under so-called “digital arrest”.

Seven people, including a Taiwanese national accused of coordinating the technical operations, have been arrested so far. The case has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Information Technology Act and the Telecommunications Act, police said on Saturday.

How the racket worked

According to investigators, the syndicate targeted victims by calling them while posing as officers from the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and other security agencies. Victims were falsely accused of having links with terror incidents, including the Pahalgam attack and alleged Delhi blasts.

They were told arrest warrants had been issued and that their bank accounts would be frozen. To intensify pressure, victims were kept under continuous audio or video contact — a coercive tactic the police described as “digital arrest” — and forced to transfer money to “verify” their innocence.

International network behind the scam

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) Vinit Kumar said several accused had earlier worked in scam centres in Cambodia and were allegedly recruited and funded by a Pakistan-based handler, while a Nepal-based layer is suspected to have remotely controlled parts of the operation.

The calls were routed from abroad but made to appear as domestic Indian numbers through illegal SIM box installations, enabling the syndicate to bypass telecom networks and evade detection while creating a sense of urgency and fear among victims.

The investigation, launched in October 2025 after a surge in complaints nationwide, revealed that the gang was using SIM box systems supplied and configured by Taiwanese nationals. These devices convert international calls into local ones, masking their true origin.

Police said the accused also rotated and overwrote IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers, allowing the same phone number to appear to originate from different Indian cities within hours, making tracing difficult.

The first illegal SIM box setup was traced to Goyla Dairy in Delhi after sustained technical surveillance. Raids led to the arrest of two alleged local operators — Shashi Prasad (53) and Parvinder Singh (38) — who were maintaining the infrastructure.

Forensic analysis of seized devices pointed to I-Tsung Chen (30), a Taiwanese national described as the principal technical operator of the syndicate. He was arrested at the Delhi international airport on 21 December after investigators allegedly lured him into believing the Indian network was still functional.

Subsequent raids in Mumbai, Mohali and Coimbatore led to the dismantling of more SIM box modules and the arrest of five more accused.

Scale of the fraud

Police said forensic examination has so far linked:

• Over 5,000 compromised IMEI numbers

• Around 20,000 SIM cards

• Cybercrime complaints from multiple states to the syndicate, with the total fraud estimated at Rs 100 crore.

Recoveries include 22 SIM box devices, mobile phones, laptops, routers, CCTV cameras, passports and foreign SIM cards.

Officials said further investigation is underway to trace money-laundering routes, possible cryptocurrency transactions, and to identify remaining domestic and foreign operatives connected to the network.

“The operation shows how organised and transnational cybercrime has become. We are now focusing on dismantling the financial backbone of this syndicate,” a senior police officer said.