Rouse Avenue Court Grants Bail to Nine in Transnational $15 Million Cyber Fraud Case

Rouse Avenue court granted bail to nine individuals accused in a $15 million cyber fraud targeting US citizens. The CBI previously arrested 43 people linked to the scam. The judge considered the accused’s clean records and lack of flight risk before giving the ruling.

The Rouse Avenue court on Thursday granted bail to nine individuals accused in a transnational cyber fraud case involving $15 million defrauded from US citizens.

In July, the CBI arrested 43 individuals from a call center in Gurugram. Special CBI Judge Amitabh Rawat approved the bail pleas of Dhruv Khattar, Ritesh Kumar, Ravindra Gupta, Hazim Imtiyaz, Mir Gazanfar Gul, Arpit Singh Chatwal, Mayank Verma, Yashu Prasad, and Abhishek Bisht. Each was granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the same amount.

The judge noted that the accused had no criminal records and were not considered flight risks. The fraud case, involving the use of pseudonymous identities to target US nationals through fake tech support alerts, is primarily document-based, and digital devices have been seized.

The accused allegedly tricked victims into granting remote access to their computers and bank accounts, resulting in the transfer of funds to the Federal Reserve under the guise of protecting them from hackers. Despite the serious allegations, the court pointed out that there is still an ongoing investigation to retrieve data tied to the case.

CBI claims that from November 2022 to April 2024, the accused operated illegal call centers, defrauding US citizens. During this period, they used aliases like 'Ellie Thomas' and 'Max Rogers' to perpetrate the fraud. Advocate Bharat Arora, along with Vikhyat Oberoi and Nishita Gupta, appeared for the accused.

(With inputs from agencies.)