ED Chargesheets Pearls Group

Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging people to guard against the menace of 'digital' arrests, probe agencies said they are taking action against this category of cyber crime with the ED filing a charge sheet in one such case and the I4C issuing a fresh advisory. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a statement on Saturday, saying it filed a prosecution complaint before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Bengaluru last month against eight accused who allegedly "lured" common people through "fake" IPO allotments and stock market investments through fraudulent apps. "Probe found that a huge network of cyber scams in India, involving fake stock market investments and digital arrest schemes executed primarily through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram. "Known as 'pig-butchering' scams, stock market investment scams entice victims with promises of high returns, using fake websites and misleading WhatsAp

Apart from Pearls Group chief Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and his three colleagues, other persons have also been named in the ED chargesheet