PANAJI: The Cyber Crime Cell has made three more arrests in connection with the Siolim digital arrest fraud, in which Bernadette Fernandes was duped of Rs 1 crore.
The arrests were made nearly a week after a jeweller from Andhra Pradesh, Yaramala Venkateswarlu, 53, who had impersonated a Delhi Crime Branch inspector, was arrested. The fraud took place between December 26 and 28, 2024.
The latest arrests include Visakh R (28) and Muhammadshan (29), both from Kollam, Kerala. SP Cyber Crime Cell Rahul Gupta informed the media that they were arrested in Kerala and brought to Goa on a transit warrant on January 11.
During further investigation, another accused, Roshan Mehboob Shaikh from Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, was also arrested on January 12. Shaikh is believed to be a mule account handler who managed a layer-one account used to launder Rs 40 lakh from the scam proceeds, while the other two are two-layer account holders.
As per information provided earlier, the scam began when the main fraudster falsely claimed that a police complaint had been filed against Fernandes, a 68-year-old from Siolim.
To make the deception more convincing, he sent forged documents bearing the name of the Supreme Court of India. Under pressure, the victim was coerced into transferring Rs 1 crore across three different bank accounts in multiple transactions.
