International Cybercrime Bust in Srinagar: 7 Arrested, Gadgets Seized

A daring police operation in Srinagar has exposed an elaborate international cyber fraud network, leading to seven arrests and the confiscation of advanced digital tools. Acting on solid intelligence about illicit call centers scamming global victims, the Crime Branch-CID deployed a hybrid team of tech whizzes and tactical units.

After weeks of shadowing suspects, gathering cyber footprints, and cross-verifying data, the team zeroed in on the Rangreth Industrial Area hub. Blitzkrieg raids swept through Srinagar, capturing the accused and hauling in 13 phones, 9 laptops, VoIP kits, SIMs, networking hardware, and media drives.

The arsenal painted a picture of a razor-sharp criminal enterprise with international reach. Initial findings link the group to a syndicate defrauding US, UK, and Canadian residents via masked comms, identity ruses, mind games, and crypto money trails.

Their setup featured unregistered VoIP call centers generating phantom international lines through spoofing and server hops, hiding Srinagar roots. Victims stumbled in via phishing ads mimicking Yahoo and Google, greeted by toll-free traps extracting bank secrets under hack repair pretexts.

Funds vanished into a web of accounts, wallets, and cryptocurrencies like USDT, looped endlessly for untraceability—raking in crores purely online. This cashless scam highlights cybercrime’s digital frontier.

An FIR charges cheating, plotting, and IT violations. Probes deepen with forensics, more arrests, victim outreach, and cross-border intel to eradicate the threat.