Gujarat Police delivers a body blow to transnational cybercrime. The Cyber Centre of Excellence has collared Kaushik Pethani from Amreli and Dhruv Dobariya from Surat, masterminds behind a trafficking scheme that dispatched jobless youth to scam operations in foreign lands. Intelligence-driven arrests on Thursday unravel a multi-layered fraud machine.
Through WhatsApp and Telegram, they peddled dream jobs, conducting phony interviews and skill bootcamps. Victims paid dearly—up to 1.5 lakhs—for arrangements that led to hellish cyber mills in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. There, forced into cryptocurrency rackets and investment frauds, they endured confiscations, isolation, and torture.
Pethani, the notorious ‘Ali Baba,’ commanded logistics and recruitment, with Dobariya dispatching a minimum of five souls. The syndicate’s net spanned India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, eyeing new frontiers in UAE, Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Georgia.
SP Vivek Bheda vows relentless pursuit: ‘Our centre stands firm against all cyber threats, including this vile form of modern slavery.’ As interrogations yield more leads, the victim tally remains under wraps.
This operation spotlights a burgeoning crisis: predatory agents weaponizing unemployment via social media. Authorities implore vigilance—vet every overseas offer thoroughly to evade these traps.