The Cyber Crime Wing of Tambaram City Police arrested two men in Odisha who reportedly were part of a ‘digital arrest’ scam and swindled ₹1.24 crore from a woman.

Police said the woman, Saroja, was contacted by fraudsters posing as officials from India Post International Service in 2024. They falsely claimed that a parcel containing illegal drugs had been sent using her Aadhaar card as proof of identity. The complainant was threatened with arrest through a forged letter purportedly signed by a DSP. To get out of the problem, she was instructed to transfer her money to an account — ‘RBI Government Account” — for verification. Trusting their assurance that the amount would be returned after verification she had transferred ₹1.24 crore to the fraudsters.

During the investigation, the police found that out of ₹1.24 crore, ₹40 lakh was sent to an IndusInd bank account jointly held by Davath Praveen Kumar, Karimnagar, Telangana and Mallavarappu Ramesh Gandhi, Telangana.

Police visited Odisha and arrested two accused persons- Davath Praveen Kumar, Karimnagar, Telangana and Aakash Mohanty, Nayagarh, Odisha, who is the associate to T Mallavarappu Ramesh Gandhi in Odisha with the assistance of Odisha Police. The team seized eight smart phones, two ATM cards, seven SIM cards, three cheque books, one laptop, a car worth ₹15 lakh and cash Rs.one lakh from the accused. So far eight bank accounts of the accused have been frozen for the purpose of investigation. They were brought to the city and remanded to judicial custody.