Bapatla police crack digital arrest case, arrest two fraudsters

Bapatla: Ina breakthrough operation, Bapatla district police have successfully cracked ‘digital arrest’ cyber fraud case, marking the first-ever arrest of suspects in such cases at national-level within a week, announced SP B Umamaheswar, in a press meet in Bapatla on Friday.

SP Umamaheswar explained that the cybercriminals defrauded a retired doctor from Chirala town of Rs 1.1 crore under the pretext of ‘digital arrest’. He said that when the victim approached Chirala town police, they immediately deployed a special team to investigate. Within a week, he said, the police identified Rs 55 lakh in pending transactions in the accused’s bank accounts. He announced that two suspects from Karnataka had been arrested, with police seizing Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and two mobile phones from them.

The SP stated that their investigation, conducted through the NCRB portal, revealed that the accused were involved in cybercrimes worth approximately Rs 14 crore across eight states. He said their technical investigation included bank transaction analysis, CDR analysis, tower dump examination, video footage review, and OSINT profiling. Police teams were deployed to Karnataka and other states for coordinated arrests.

SP Umamaheshwar emphasised that ‘digital arrest’ has no legal basis and urged citizens to contact the police at 1930 for assistance with cybercrime immediately. He warned against falling prey to such fraudulent schemes and assured that the district’s technical team remains ready to help victims.