AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat CID Crime's Cyber Centre of Excellence has dismantled an interstate racket that allegedly cheated people across the country through a sophisticated online scam involving fake Ayurvedic sexual wellness medicines.
Acting on intelligence inputs, the Cyber Centre of Excellence raided a call centre operating from Ahmedabad's Vastral area on July 10 and exposed a well-organised fraud network that investigators believe duped nearly 4,000 to 5,000 victims, siphoning off crores of rupees through deception, intimidation and cyber-enabled extortion.
The operation led to the arrest of seven accused, including the alleged kingpin, Devendra Rajawat of Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, and a woman.
Simultaneous action was carried out in Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh, following which legal proceedings were initiated against all the accused.
Investigators revealed that the gang first lured unsuspecting victims through aggressive advertisements on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, promoting products with claims such as "100% guaranteed sexual power enhancement", "Ayurvedic treatment", "performance-enhancing medicine", and similar misleading promises.
Once a prospective customer responded to the advertisements, call centre executives posed as qualified doctors or medical experts and convinced them to purchase the so-called herbal medicines.
Orders were accepted online, and parcels were dispatched through courier and postal services. However, the fraud did not end with the sale. As soon as customers accepted delivery and made payment, the accused allegedly switched to the second phase of the scam.
Victims began receiving threatening phone calls from fraudsters impersonating police officers, doctors or government officials. The callers falsely claimed that the medicines ordered by the customer were banned stimulant drugs and alleged that criminal proceedings had been initiated against them.
To make the threats appear genuine, the accused prepared fake FIR references using the names of local police stations and even district Superintendent of Police officers corresponding to the victim's residential address.
Victims were then warned that they faced imminent arrest unless they immediately paid a "settlement amount".
Under fear of police action and social embarrassment, many victims allegedly transferred amounts ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Investigators further found that even customers who refused to accept delivery of the medicine were threatened with fabricated criminal cases and jail, forcing several of them to make payments despite never receiving the product.
The call centre was the nerve centre of a nationwide operation.
According to investigators, the entire operation was managed from a 15-seater call centre in Ahmedabad's Vastral area, while digital evidence indicates that the syndicate had developed a highly organised system to identify and target victims across India.
Cyber investigators found that the accused were spending nearly Rs 30,000 every day on social media advertisements to attract new customers.
Examination of seized computers and digital devices also revealed an extensive database containing details of thousands of potential consumers used for targeted marketing and follow-up extortion.
The investigation has further uncovered that the gang was planning to expand its operations by establishing another similar call centre at Bidhuna in Uttar Pradesh, indicating that the fraud network was preparing to widen its nationwide reach.
Massive digital seizure during raid During the raid, the CID Crime team seized a large cache of electronic devices and incriminating material believed to have been used in the operation.
The recovered items include 44 mobile phones, 23 CPUs, two laptops, one monitor, three caller-ID telephones, three pen drives, five bank passbooks, one cheque book, one QR code, caller scripts, two cartons of energy-boosting medicines and five fake rubber stamps bearing the names of firms including Tanvi Enterprises, Aswani Ayurved, DR Ayurved and Ayurshakti Ayurved.
Officials believe these materials will provide crucial digital evidence to establish the full scale of the cyber fraud network.
Rs 5 crore suspicious transactions are under the scanner.
Investigators have identified 14 bank accounts linked to the arrested accused in which suspicious transactions exceeding Rs 5 crore have surfaced during the probe.
Further scrutiny revealed that six complaints have already been registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) against these accounts, including one complaint from Delhi, two from Rajasthan and three from Uttar Pradesh, indicating that the syndicate had victims spread across multiple states.
Based on digital evidence recovered during the raid, investigators suspect that the number of victims could be significantly higher, as the accused had access to databases containing thousands of mobile numbers and customer profiles.
The Cyber Centre of Excellence is now coordinating with police agencies across different states to trace additional victims, identify other members of the syndicate and uncover the complete financial network behind what is believed to be one of the largest cyber-enabled extortion rackets operating under the guise of online Ayurvedic medicine sales.
Officials said the investigation is continuing to identify the full extent of the interstate conspiracy, trace the money trail and bring every member of the organised cyber crime network to justice.