Kochi cyber police arrest woman in ₹25 crore cyber fraud

A police team probing a cyber fraud in which a Kochi-based businessperson allegedly lost ₹24.76 crore has arrested a woman in connection with the incident. Sujitha G., a native of Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested from Aluva by the Kochi Cyber Crime Police on Tuesday (September 16, 2025), a police source said.

This is the first arrest in the scam, said to be one of the largest cyber frauds reported in the State in terms of the amount of money involved.

The police zeroed in on the woman after examining the bank accounts used for the transactions. The police source said the woman was unemployed. “The complainant lost the money in around 90 transactions held using 26 bank accounts. We found that one of the accounts was opened at the Palarivattom branch of a leading bank. We traced the bank account holder and recorded her arrest,” the police source said. The investigation team suspect that either the woman is linked to a larger network involved in the crime or she may have sold her account to the fraudsters, the source said.

The alleged online fraud occurred over two years, between March 2023 and August 2025. The police registered a first information report (FIR) on September 1, 2025 based on a complaint filed by the victim, who is into pharmaceutical business.

According to the FIR, the accused contacted the victim over phone and chat, and convinced him to engage in stock trading through a website promising high returns. The victim reportedly continued investing as high returns appeared in his account on the website. However, he realised he had been duped when he could not withdraw either the ‘returns’ or his original investments. The FIR was registered under Sections 418(4) (cheating) and 406(2) (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.