Allahabad HC dismisses relief plea in international cyber fraud case targeting foreign nationals
The Allahabad High Court Division Bench of Justices Rajnish Kumar and Babita Rani dismissed a writ petition filed by accused persons arrested in a large-scale international cyber fraud targeting foreign nationals. The Court held that the petition was filed on misconceived grounds, as the accused were provided grounds and reasons for arrest through recovery memos and phone calls to nominated persons.
The Court observed that "procedural omission or a failure to record the information in the general diary does not automatically render the foundational arrest illegal in its entirety." Police had raided an illegal cyber call centre operating from Summit Building, Vibhuti Khand, Lucknow in June 2026, where accused persons were impersonating members of US Treasury, Federal Trade Commission, FBI and other US agencies to defraud foreign nationals of their bank details.
The operation involved coordinated teams—dialler, banker, and closure—with vendors in the US collaborating in the scheme. Pop-up messages mimicking companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Netflix were sent to US citizens' devices to solicit calls to toll-free numbers operated by the call centre.
