NEW DELHI: Two people were detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday for extorting money and gift cards from foreign nationals.

The culprit were identified as Vijay and Vishal.

According to a senior CBI official, a complaint was filed against the owner of a private contact centre located in Shadi Khampur Village, New Delhi, and others on the grounds that the owner and others were allegedly operating an illegal call centre.

By pretending to be police officers, the accused engaged in illegal, widespread cybercheating and extortion with foreign nationals, resulting in losses for the foreigners and gains.

To trick innocent foreign nationals, the accused pretended to be officers of EUROPOL or the Federal Police and informed the victims that their identities had been stolen and that drug and money laundering offences had been committed in their names using their stolen identities.

The accused intimidated and threatened the victims with impending arrest, the filing of criminal charges against them, the imposition of harsh penalties or fines, and the freezing or confiscation of their assets.

"In order to absolve themselves of the alleged coercive behavior, the accused reportedly threatened the victims and forced them to transfer money to the provided bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, gift card codes, or voucher codes. The money that the accused fraudulently obtained from the victims was transferred to their crypto-accounts held in their e-wallets at various cryptocurrency exchanges in the form of Bitcoin (a cryptocurrency) "police reported.

Searches at the accused's locations, including the New Delhi call centre, resulted in the collection of incriminating documents and cash totaling Rs 14.50 lakh. There were discovered four cryptocurrency wallets with a combined value of Rs 1,30,20,000 (including Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies), which were reportedly used to store criminal gains.
The two suspects who had been detained were both presented before the appropriate court and were remanded in jail until September 30.

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