New Delhi: A mother-son duo has been arrested for posing as detectives and offering their fake sleuthing services, for which they took Rs 1.1 lakh from a Delhi resident.The front for the fake detective agency was a website “called SleuthIndia.com, which resembled a genuine website, called SleuthsIndia.com,” DCP Rajeev Kumar said.The complainant, who wanted to snoop on a relative, clicked on the fake website. He paid the Rs 1.1 lakh on Sept 6, but when he did not get the information he needed, and the so-called detectives stopped taking his calls, the man went to the Sleuths India office. There, the staff told him that the website that had promised him the service was not theirs. On Sept 8, the man lodged a police complaint.When police started probing the cyber fraud, they found out that the complainant’s money was sent to one bank account and was then layered using other accounts.“The investigation focused on the website’s infrastructure, communication details and financial transactions connected with the cheated amount. The leads were analysed and correlated, which enabled the investigating team to identify and trace the location of the persons allegedly operating and managing the fraudulent website,” DCP Kumar said.A raid was conducted in Sikrod, Ghaziabad, and Arnav Singh (22) was caught on Sept 15. He was arrested after evidence emerged from his laptop found at the spot.Arnav’s mother came to the police station on Sept 17, following which her phone was seized too.A technical analysis of the device revealed that the phone had been used to communicate with the complainant, and the fraudulent website was operated by the mother and son.Police found out that Arnav’s mother’s account was where the complainant’s money was initially parked.Police are extracting data from the laptop and two phones that they have seized.
