Designer, mandarin expert sister held in Rs 70 lakh digital scam

Surat: A fashion designer and his sister, a music graduate and Mandarin language expert, were arrested in connection with a digital investment scam in which a Surat engineer's Rs 70 lakh was siphoned off.The Surat cybercrime police arrested Shraddha Gajbhiye (40) from Hyderabad, where she worked with a private company, while her younger brother Nilkanth (35) was apprehended in Nagpur. Both are natives of Nagpur.Preliminary investigation revealed that Shraddha, who worked with several international companies, was lured by hefty commission offered by a Chinese man in Cambodia to recharge 435 mobile numbers used in digital scams.Police found 34 FIRs in different states registered against these mobile numbers.In the Surat case, the engineer got a link on social media where he was introduced to a woman named Sheela Shetty who lured him with handsome returns through investment. He transferred Rs 70 lakh in multiple transactions but realized he was cheated when he was not allowed to withdraw his investment and purported profits.DCP (cybercrime) Bishakha Jain told TOI, "During investigation, we found a Delhi-based bank account from which money was transferred to a Nagpur account. On further scrutiny, we found that 435 mobile numbers used by Chinese gangs were recharged using money from this account."Following this clue, the police traced the dealer who recharged all the numbers and nabbed Nilkanth. He told police that he recharged Rs 1.29 lakh on the instructions of his sister, Shraddha, and received Rs 43,000 as commission jointly with her.Meanwhile, police learnt that Shraddha worked in a private company in Hyderabad and arrested her.Shraddha had completed graduation in music and also held a diploma in the Chinese language. While searching for a job on a website, she got an offer from a Cambodia-based company. During her stay in the company as a translator, she was reportedly introduced to a Chinese gang involved in digital scams.Lured by the commission offered by scammers, she contacted a dealer in Nagpur and got the recharges of 435 SIM cards done through her brother.