The Surat City Cyber Crime Cell has arrested a 34-year-old man who allegedly posed as a government cyber forensic specialist and cheated a Surat-based petrochemical businessman of Rs 1.24 crore by promising lucrative returns through forex trading, cryptocurrency and overseas funds, police said on Monday. The main accused, Priyank Vyas, was arrested from Mira Road in Mumbai.
Source: IANS via AsiaPost
According to the police, the businessman had approached chartered accountant Rohan Kelawala in Surat in November 2025 for banking and loan-related work. Kelawala allegedly told him that he invested clients' money in forex trading and introduced him to Vyas as a cyber forensic expert and cryptocurrency specialist. To gain his confidence, Vyas allegedly displayed a fake identity card bearing the national emblem that read 'Dr Priyank Samirbhai Vyas – Forensic Cyber Crime Specialist, Cyber Forensic Department, Mumbai', claimed that his car carried a government board, and used a UPI ID named 'fslcyberforensic' and an email address named 'fslmumbai'. He initially sought Rs 18 lakh, claiming the amount was needed to renew the IP address of a terminal he said he had developed.
Source: IANS via AsiaPost
Police said the accused and his associates collected Rs 1,29,25,100 from the complainant and his friend in 21 instalments over 11 months, between November 2025 and October 2026. Of this, Rs 4.70 lakh was returned, leaving Rs 1,24,53,900 unpaid. The money was not used for any server, fund or cryptocurrency transactions, police said; instead, Vyas allegedly purchased a property in Mumbai worth around Rs 1.5 crore, bought a BMW luxury car and booked another flat for which he paid approximately Rs 80 lakh as a token amount. Investigators are collecting documentary evidence to establish that the assets were bought with the proceeds of the alleged fraud so that legal action for their seizure or freezing can begin.
Source: Nation Press
The investigation has also revealed two other alleged victims in Surat: one of the complainant's friends paid Rs 74.90 lakh in instalments through bank transfers and cash, while another Surat resident allegedly paid Rs 7.5 lakh. Police suspect the accused may have collected nearly Rs 2 crore from victims in the city and are investigating whether more people were cheated. Police have seized two mobile phones, two laptops, two hard disks, two pen drives, three cryptocurrency wallet cards, a chip, the fake Cyber Forensic Department identity card, a card of the Crime Grievance and Intelligence Council, two cheque books, two bank passbooks and documents relating to the Mira Road flat.
Source: IANS via AsiaPost
Kelawala, the chartered accountant who allegedly introduced Vyas to the complainant and facilitated the transactions, is absconding, police said. Police also said Vyas and Kelawala had earlier themselves been cheated while trading on a platform named GlobalSwiftPay. All the charges are allegations at this stage: a case has been registered and the investigation is under way.