ED arrests 3 more in Rs 30,000-crore pan-India cyber fraud network

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested three more people in a money laundering case linked to a pan-India cyber fraud network involving transactions worth Rs 30,000 crore, sources said on Friday. With these arrests, the total number of people held by the agency's Panaji office in the case has gone up to five.

According to sources, Bhushan Suryakant Moye, Vilas Narayan Pawar and Shailesh Dagdu were taken into custody on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. A special court in Panaji has sent them to ED custody till September 1. Earlier, on August 23, the agency had arrested Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed, who remain in its custody.

In a statement, the ED said its investigation began after the Goa Police registered an FIR on June 9, 2025. The case relates to a Goa-based woman who was allegedly placed under digital arrest by cyber fraudsters and duped into transferring Rs 2.60 crore to some "Secret Supervision Accounts" between May 21 and June 2, 2025.

The agency said the money taken from the Goa woman was deposited in 400 bank accounts, withdrawn in cash and then converted into foreign currency through RBI-licensed money changers. Officials said the money trail led to an "interconnected" network of commodity trading, travel and forex entities, which carried out banking transactions worth more than Rs 27,850 crore. The probe also found Rs 2,904 crore deposited in cash, including Rs 584.70 crore through 61,448 bulk note acceptance machine transactions across multiple locations in the country.

According to the ED, the bank accounts of these entities were linked to around 300 cyber fraud complaints and 163 FIRs filed across 20 states and Union Territories, involving an aggregate reported loss of Rs 417.49 crore. The agency carried out two rounds of searches in Goa and Mumbai in July and another on August 21, during which it seized about Rs 3.25 crore in cash. The probe also found that shell or dummy companies had named drivers and employees living in single-room accommodations as directors, which the agency said was the modus operandi in the case.

The case centres on an alleged digital arrest fraud against a Goa-based woman, but the ED says its investigation has uncovered a wider network of bank accounts, cash deposits, forex conversions and shell companies, with five arrests made so far.