Thirty-five individuals were arrested and 54 held under preventive custody in an inter-State month-long crackdown against cybercrime by the West district’s Cyber Police unit, an officer said on Wednesday (May 20, 2026).

The crackdown was part of investigations into various cybercrimes, including digital arrests, investment frauds, APK file scams, fake dating memberships, and mule account operations, involving funds of up to ₹70 crore.

Hundreds of SIM and ATM cards were also recovered during raids and arrests conducted in April, said the police.

“Multiple dedicated teams worked day and night on technical surveillance, financial trail analyses, digital intelligence gathering and conducted coordinated inter-State raids last month, leading to these arrests, which exposed highly organised cyber networks involved in routing and laundering cheated money through mule accounts, cryptocurrency and layered transactions,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Darade Sharad Bhaskar.

Dramatic escape bid

In one case, the police found a sophisticated mule account and OTP routing syndicate operating from Karampura. “On April 12, a team comprising Sub-Inspectors and head constables raided the premises from where the syndicate was being operated,” as per a statement from the DCP’s Office.

As the team reached the spot, the accused tried to escape by jumping from the fourth floor of the multi-storey building. “However, all accused — Bittoo Chaudhary, Lavish Chugh, Rishi, Arun Singh, Ashish, and Deepak Bhatt — were arrested. They were found to be in possession of ATM cards, SIM cards, banking documents and credentials of mule account holders,” read the statement.

The police recovered 43 smartphones, 313 SIM cards, 184 ATM cards, 51 cheque books, two passbooks and two laptops from the suspects. “Further investigation revealed that 35 NCRP (National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal) complaints amounting to a total of ₹40 crore were registered against them across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh,” read the statement.

Fake dating club

In another operation, a fake dating club membership fraud was busted. “Cyber fraud through fake dating club membership schemes has emerged as one of the most deceptive forms of online fraud targeting emotionally vulnerable citizens,” Mr. Bhaskar said.

The investigation led the police to three Uttar Pradesh residents — Sachin Rawat, Akshay Kumar Baliyan and Kartikey Choudhary. Mr. Kartikey, a Saharanpur-based journalist associated with a digital news outlet, is accused of arranging and supplying nearly 40 mule bank accounts to cyber fraud operators. “He was found to be in touch with multiple syndicates operating from Gorakhpur and Bangalore,” said the DCP.

The case came to light after a man filed a complaint of being defrauded of around ₹1,60,000 in a fake dating application scam.

“The complainant told the police that he clicked a link attached to an advertisement for a dating application. The link led him to a Telegram bot where he was asked to buy a ‘VIP membership’ and subsequently asked to transfer money for various such schemes,” the statement added.

The investigators traced the IP addresses to Africa and a financial withdrawal by one of the accused from Bangalore.

“Investigation revealed that the syndicate had inter-State and possibly international links, with digital trails extending up to Africa-based IP addresses. They used fake Telegram identities and digital platforms to emotionally manipulate victims and route cheated money through mule accounts before converting the funds into cryptocurrency,” said the DCP. The accused were found to be involved in 28 NCRP complaints.

Another case involved the digital arrest of a senior citizen who was led to believe he was involved in a money-laundering case.

Officers followed the money trail and conducted raids in Ludhiana in Punjab and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. The accused — Ashok Kumar, Suraj Kumar, Deepu Kumar and Vivek Kumar — were arrested for operating mule bank accounts and converting cheated money into cryptocurrency through layered financial transactions.

“The overall quantum of money involved in these cases is over ₹70 crore. Search is on for absconding criminals associated with these syndicates, and further investigation is under way,” the senior officer said.