The trend emerged during a probe into a Rs 95.65 lakh digital-arrest fraud registered at Lucknow’s Cyber Crime Police Station on Sept 25. Lucknow: Cyber fraudsters are increasingly using online gaming accounts and digital wallets to disperse and conceal money siphoned from victims, creating a new challenge for investigators tracking financial trails.
Police have so far secured around Rs 44 lakh by placing liens on suspect accounts. Financial analysis revealed that the money was first routed through two primary bank accounts in Guwahati and Ranchi before being distributed across 903 online gaming accounts.
Police said cybercriminals increasingly avoid transferring large amounts directly, instead splitting the proceeds into smaller transactions routed through multiple bank accounts, gaming wallets and digital platforms. This layering makes it difficult to identify the ultimate beneficiaries. Police are now examining linked bank accounts, gaming wallets and transaction records to determine how the money was moved and whether account holders knowingly facilitated the fraud or were used as intermediaries.
Under pressure, the victim transferred Rs 95.65 lakh.
Fraudsters posing as CBI and ED officials threatened the victim through WhatsApp calls and video conferencing, claiming links to a money-laundering case and impending arrest, according to ADCP (Crime) Kiran Yadav.