New Delhi: Delhi Police arrested 944 people and registered 596 fresh FIRs during a two-day crackdown on cybercrime, with investigators linking 4,002 complaints involving alleged fraud of Rs 479.1 crore to the accused and networks operating across the country.
The sixth edition of Operation CyHawk, conducted Oct 28-29, involved all 15 district police units, the crime branch (cyber) and the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit. As many as 4,979 suspects were detained or rounded up for verification. Joint CP (IFSO) Chinmoy Biswal said police also bound down 788 people and served notices on another 2,081, taking the total number of people dealt with to 3,813. The operation also saw action in 432 old cases, besides the registration of 596 fresh FIRs and four kalandras, taking the number of cases in which action was taken to 1,032. 3,275 were registered in other states and UTs While 727 complaints were filed in Delhi. To track down suspects and dismantle the infrastructure supporting cyber fraud, 283 police teams travelled to 17 states and five UTs, conducted raids, technical surveillance and local inquiries, leading to arrests in several inter-state networks. Seizures included 1,037 mobile phones, 1,301 SIM cards, 106 laptops and computers, 397 ATM cards, more than 244 bank kits and passbooks, 325 Aadhaar cards, 11 cars and 10 two-wheelers. Police recovered Rs 37.6 lakh in cash, besides gold and cryptocurrency in the form of USDT. Delhi Police said the latest operation delivered better results than CyHawk 5.0, held in June, with fresh FIRs increasing by 24%, complaints worked out rising 46% and action in complaints originating outside Delhi increasing 57%. Across six editions, Operation CyHawk has resulted in over 3,300 arrests, police said.
Police said targets were identified through analysis of National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal complaints, Samanvaya and Pratibimb portals, bank account patterns and mobile number data. The teams also dismantled illegal call centres involved in impersonation and extortion scams. Investigations are continuing to trace money trails, identify handlers operating from abroad and recover victims’ money.