Goa Digital-Arrest Fraud Leads ED to a Rs 417 Crore Laundering Network: 7 Arrested, 20 States

What happened

It began with one complaint in Goa. A woman from Margao was kept on a video call between 21 May and 2 June 2025 by people who, according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), posed as TRAI and CBI officials, showed a forged Supreme Court order and told her to move her savings into so-called “Secret Supervision Accounts”. She transferred about Rs 2.60 crore. Goa Police registered an FIR on 9 June 2025 at the Cyber Crime Police Station, North Goa. We do not name her.

The ED’s Panaji Zonal Office then followed the money under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Over two months it arrested seven people. The seventh arrest, on Saturday 24 October 2026, is why the case is in the news again. Everything below is what the ED alleges, as reported. None of the accused has been convicted. Updated 26 October 2026.

How big is it

The figures reported are large, and they measure different things, so we keep them apart.

• Victim losses: Rs 417.49 crore reported across the complaints linked to the network’s accounts (the ED figure, carried by Prudent Media, Free Press Journal and PTI). Some later reports say “over Rs 400 crore”.
• Complaints and FIRs: 330 victim complaints and 163 FIRs in 20 States and Union Territories, per the ED in August. PTI, in October, says 300 complaints. The outlets do not agree on the complaint count.
• Money moved through bank accounts: more than Rs 27,850 crore (ED, August). Reports of 24 and 25 October say “nearly Rs 28,000 crore”, and ETV Bharat’s PTI copy calls Rs 30,000 crore the ED’s overall figure. This is turnover through the accounts, not the amount cheated from victims.
• Cash deposits: about Rs 2,904 crore, which includes Rs 584.70 crore through 61,448 deposits at bulk note acceptance machines (PTI via ETV Bharat).
• Held so far: Rs 3.25 crore in cash seized in searches in Goa and Mumbai (PTI via ETV Bharat), and about Rs 27.67 crore lien-marked or frozen by agencies across the country (Prudent Media, 28 August). Neither is money returned to victims.

Put plainly: the victims’ reported loss is a little over Rs 400 crore. The Rs 28,000 crore is how much money passed through the network’s accounts, which is a measure of how the system was used, not of what people lost.

How the money allegedly moved

The ED describes a layered route. In outline, and only as the agency alleges:

1. Victims are scared by a fake “officer” on a call and told to transfer money to a “safe” or “supervision” account.
2. The money lands in a small number of conduit accounts (nine primary ones in this case).
3. It is then spread across more than 400 mule accounts, plus ATM withdrawals and UPI gateways.
4. Many of the accounts belong to companies in commodity trading, travel and forex that were run on paper by dummy directors. The ED says one chartered accountant set up 21 companies, with 43 dummy directors, and handled their tax returns together. A PTI report says the directors on paper included drivers and employees living in single rooms.
5. The money is turned into cash and then foreign currency through companies holding RBI money-changer licences. The ED also alleges that cash was exchanged for RTGS credits through an agent for a commission.

This is why the case matters beyond Goa. The person on the phone is only the first step. The scam works at this scale because many ordinary-looking accounts and companies, and the people willing to lend them, carry the money onward.

The seven arrests, as reported

• 23 August 2026: two alleged key operatives arrested in Mumbai.
• 27 August 2026: three more arrested in Mumbai: a chartered accountant accused of incorporating the 21 companies, and two men accused of cash conversion and arranging RTGS transfers. A Special PMLA Court in North Goa remanded them to ED custody until 1 September.
• 16 October 2026: an RTGS agent, the sixth arrest. The ED says he told investigators he knew the money came from cyber frauds including digital arrest, and alleges he destroyed records and mobile phones during searches. He was remanded to ED custody until 19 October.
• Saturday 24 October 2026: an advocate, the seventh arrest, stopped at a boarding gate at Mumbai airport with help from Customs and CISF, and remanded by a special PMLA court in Panaji to ED custody until 29 October.

The ED alleges the advocate arranged bribes, paid through informal couriers known as angadiyas, to officials so that bank accounts frozen after complaints could be released. It also says he did not appear for any accused in court. The officials who allegedly took money have not been named in the reports we read and are still being identified. These are allegations in a live investigation. We do not name the accused.

What we have not been able to confirm

We found no ED press release on its own site, so the figures above come from news reports of ED statements: Prudent Media, Free Press Journal, ETV Bharat (PTI), Daily Pioneer, Oneindia, The420 and Pratidin Time. The August searches are dated 17 July in one report and “July and 21 August” in another. We do not know how many bank officials or police officers, if any, will be charged, how much of the Rs 417 crore will be traced and returned, or when a prosecution complaint will be filed.

What this teaches ordinary people

• A “digital arrest” is always a scam. No agency arrests, interrogates or holds anyone on a video call, and none asks for money to be moved to a “supervision” or “safe” account. See our digital-arrest response guide.
• Act fast if money has gone. Call 1930 at once and file at cybercrime.gov.in. Early reports give banks a chance to place a lien on the receiving account. It does not guarantee recovery. In this case only a small part of the reported loss is shown as frozen.
• Do not become part of the chain. Offers to “rent” your bank account, UPI ID, SIM card or company papers for a commission are how mule accounts and dummy companies are built. Money passing through an account in your name can lead to your account being frozen and to a police inquiry. If someone has already used your account, tell your bank and the police.
• Business owners and professionals: keep control of company documents, and check who is a director and who operates the accounts. Do not sign up as a director for a fee.
• Banks and staff: repeated fast transfers out of newly opened accounts, large cash deposits through machines and many unrelated complaints against one account are patterns to escalate. Our Sonbhadra case shows a bank employee who stopped a transfer chain in time.

If this is happening to you now

End the call. Do not move money. Call 1930, file at cybercrime.gov.in, and phone your bank on the number printed on your card or on its official site. Keep screenshots, call logs and transaction references. Tell a family member or friend; secrecy is part of the scam. For urgent payment requests that seem to come from someone you know, read how to verify them another way, and see the Jaipur case for what happens when a payment is released on a message alone.

This page is general information, not legal or financial advice for your situation. Last checked 26 October 2026.