In an early morning operation, the Uttara Kannada CEN police arrested a cyber slave-turned-cyber fraudster at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru on Friday.
The accused, identified as Shah Alam, 23, from Bihar, was nabbed using just one clue — his name. The police team scanned Bengaluru-bound flights from across the country, took a calculated guess, and detained Alam, who arrived on a flight from Delhi. Their hunch proved right.
The victim, a 38-year-old businessman from Uttara Kannada, believed that Alam was a potential bride he met on a matrimonial website and hence continued chatting. Between June 21 and July 23, the accused convinced the victim to gift him a new iPhone, a MacBook, and ₹36 lakh for trading. However, the scam began on May 25 — when Alam was still in Cambodia where he was held captive as a cybercrime slave.
Cyber slavery
Alam met an agent who sent him to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on April 29 to work with a Chinese cyber fraud team. During his stint there, Alam set up a trap for the Uttara Kannada businessman on the website and passed his contact to a woman in the team, who built the victim’s trust after chatting for many days.
