On Thursday, the Gujarat police detained a Russian national in relation to a ‘digital arrest’ case in which a man was defrauded of Rs 17 lakh, according to an official.
An Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell announcement stated that Anatoly Mironov, a resident of Orenburg, Russia, was a former “gatekeeper” for a Chinese-led gang, helping to move the profits of crime into several accounts and convert some of it into bitcoin.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Hardik Makadia, a “gatekeeper” is an intermediary employed by transnational cybercriminals to monitor bank account holders who are contracted to receive proceeds of crime and assist in transferring those cash into the gang’s bank accounts.
Mr. Makadia said, “Since Mironov, who entered India on a tourist visa last year, was behind bars in a similar case of cheating in Maharashtra’s Pune, the Cyber Crime Cell took his custody from a jail there through a production warrant and brought him here on Thursday”.
The investigation started in October when a businessman from the city went to the Cyber Crime Cell to report that he had been under “digital arrest” and had been extorted Rs 17 lakh by people impersonating as Customs and police officials.
According to the announcement, the scammers informed the victim that a package in his name that contained counterfeit passports, ATM cards, and drugs had been intercepted by Customs.
Mr. Makadia stated, “The account into which the victim transferred Rs 17 lakh belonged to Mahefulalam Shah. An agent named Nadim Pathan, who was in touch with the gang, had convinced Shah to give his account on rent for this activity. After their arrest, we learnt about the role of Mironov. After the victim transferred Rs 17 lakh in Shah’s bank account, Miranov had called both of them to a hotel in Mumbai where the Russian national transferred the amount to other accounts, including cryptocurrency, as per the orders of his Chinese boss”.
According to the ACP, Miranov also summoned a few other bank account holders and their representatives to the hotel at that time for the same reason.
Mr. Makadia stated, “Mironov monitored both bank account holders and agents, acting as a gatekeeper. The gang leaders, who are seated outside of India, then give him instructions on how to conduct transactions”.
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