'Digital arrest' fraud: ED nabs two for laundering Rs 2.60 crore

The ED arrested Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed in a money laundering probe after a Goa woman was duped of Rs 2.60 crore in a "digital arrest" scam. The funds were routed through a complex network of over 400 accounts.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two persons in a money laundering probe linked to a case in which a Goa resident was allegedly subjected to a "digital arrest" and coerced into transferring Rs 2.60 crore in 2025 to bank accounts falsely presented to her as "secret supervision accounts".

The woman victim was coerced into transferring the amount between May 21, 2025 and June 2, 2025 Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed were arrested under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Both were arrested on August 23, and they have been produced before the Special PMLA Court in Goa.

Organised Money Laundering Racket Unearthed

Panaji zonal office of the ED arrested both the accused following its investigation arises out of FIR No. 17/2025 dated June 9, 2025, of the Cyber Crime Police Station in North Goa. ED said the investigation has revealed that the money did not stop with the fraudsters. "It entered an organised apparatus which existed to convert the proceeds of cyber-fraud, received as banking credits, first into cash and thereafter into foreign currency, using companies holding licences of the Reserve Bank of India as Full Fledged Money Changers."

The victim's funds were routed within hours through a first layer of dormant and newly-opened accounts and fragmented across more than four hundred beneficiary accounts, said the ED, adding "the trail led to an interconnected network of commodity, trading, travel and forex entities which have together undertaken banking transactions exceeding Rs 27,850 crore and deposited approximately Rs 2,904 crore in cash, including Rs 584.70 crore through 61,448 Bulk Note Acceptance Machine transactions at multiple locations."

Nationwide Network of Fraud

"Investigation has established that the accounts of these entities are the subject of 330 victim complaints and 163 First Information Reports across 20 states and Union Territories, involving an aggregate reported loss of Rs 417.49 crore. In 101 of those complaints, the money of a single victim was routed into two or more entities of the same network in the course of one and the same fraud," said the ED in a statement.

Investigation and Seizures

Searches were conducted under Section 17 of the Act at 20 premises in Mumbai and Goa on July 17 this year and at further premises on August 2. Cash of Rs 3.25 crore has been seized, along with digital devices, records and statutory registers, which are under examination.

Modus Operandi: Shell Companies

ED further said its investigation has also revealed that the companies through which the proceeds were routed were incorporated in the names of persons of very modest means, including employees, drivers and residents of single-room tenements, who were shown as directors while the accounts and the affairs of the companies remained under the control of others. (ANI)

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