Inter-state cyber fraud racket busted in Bhubaneswar, 12 arrested

Bhubaneswar Police have busted an inter-state cyber fraud racket operating from the city and arrested 12 people, including seven from Bihar, four from Kerala and one from Odisha, officials said on Monday.

The arrests were made after police raided a house in the Badagada police station area on Sunday following a tip-off. Police said the accused were running a well-organised cyber fraud operation that targeted victims across multiple states.

According to investigators, the accused operated a call-based cyber fraud network from the rented premises. Using dozens of mobile phones and SIM cards, they contacted unsuspecting victims while concealing their identities and locations. Police said the gang cheated people using three main methods fake gift voucher schemes, bogus lottery scams and fraudulent loan offers.

In gift voucher frauds, victims were informed that they had won vouchers or rewards and were asked to pay processing or GST charges to claim them. In lottery scams, callers posed as representatives of reputed companies or lottery agencies and demanded money towards taxes or registration fees after claiming the victim had won a large prize. In loan frauds, the accused offered instant loans at low interest rates but collected upfront charges for verification or insurance without disbursing any loan.

Police said the racket primarily targeted middle- and lower-income individuals, senior citizens, unemployed youth and small traders, particularly those with limited digital awareness. Victims were spread across several states, indicating a nationwide reach of the operation.

During the raid, police seized 30 basic keypad mobile phones, 30 smartphones, two laptops, scratch cards and letters used in the fraud. While the total amount involved is still being ascertained, investigators suspect the fraud could run into several crores of rupees, given the scale of operations, number of devices seized and the multi-state victim base. Police said such rackets typically extract relatively small sums from a large number of victims, making early detection difficult.

Officials said the operation was cracked following specific intelligence inputs. Police conducted technical surveillance, analysed call detail records, SIM activation data and digital transaction trails, and linked multiple cyber fraud complaints to a single location in Bhubaneswar. A coordinated raid led to the arrest of all 12 accused.

Police have begun coordinating with law enforcement agencies in Bihar, Kerala and Odisha to trace money trails, identify victims and uncover possible associates and kingpins. Financial investigations are continuing to track bank accounts, digital wallets and money mules used by the accused, and further arrests are likely.

Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said the accused were running a major cyber fraud racket from Bhubaneswar. Deputy Commissioner of Police Jagmohan Meena said the gang had cheated people from different states and that further investigation was underway.