In June, Fatima, a second-year student at Delhi University’s Ramjas College, was allegedly scrolling on Instagram when she came across an advertisement of Kavya Kurti, an apparel firm selling kurtas for women. She clicked on it and took her pick.

“When she was ready to order, she was redirected to WhatsApp. She placed an order worth ₹799 and paid ₹400 in advance through a QR code,” said a police officer.

What Fatima was allegedly unaware of was that the firm was fake, and the linked account was part of a Rs 30 crore cyber fraud, according to police.

After placing the order, as per the investigators, Fatima got a call with demands for more payment — a trap usually followed by cyber fraudsters. “On contacting the seller, she was asked to pay ₹1,150 as a refundable charge for generating the code, followed by further payments of ₹2,000, ₹2,650 and ₹650 on similar pretexts.…