A 78-year-old retired government employee from Hyderabad was duped of Rs 51 lakh in a digital arrest scam. A fraudster posing as a Mumbai Crime Branch ACP accused him of money laundering and forced him to transfer funds. Police have launched an investigation after the victim reported the cybercrime
Representational image. Pic/iStock
Cybercriminals cheated a 78-year-old pensioner of Rs 51 lakh in the digital arrest fraud. The victim, a retired Central government employee and resident of Srinagar colony in Hyderabad, received a call from a fraudster posing as ACP of Mumbai Crime Branch, threatening that his mobile phone SIM was used in bomb blasts and kidnap cases.
The fraudster also told the victim that others have taken SIM cards in his name. He even showed notices from the CBI and accused him of money laundering.
The victim was kept under digital arrest by the offender, who made a video call. The fraudster did not allow him to make call to anyone and took all his bank account details.
The accused asked the senior citizen to transfer 95 per cent of the money from his account to save himself from the case and assured him that after investigation the money would be returned.
Out of fear of being implicated in the case, the victim transferred Rs.51 lakh. He later realised that he was cheated and approached Cybercrime police.
Police registered a case and took up investigation.
This is the second such case to come to light in the city this week. Earlier, a 73-year-old woman was cheated of Rs 1.43 crore.
The fraudsters, who impersonated as police officers, threatened that her Aadhaar card was found with a criminal involved in child trafficking and murder cases, and that she would be arrested.
On October 22, the victims received a call from an unknown caller, introducing himself as Akash Choudhary, an officer from Gandhi Nagar police station in Bengaluru. He told her that a criminal involved in the trafficking and murder of 187 children carried her Aadhaar card and that an FIR had been registered against her.
The impersonator even showed an arrest warrant and a CBI account freezer order. Out of fear of being apprehended, she transferred the money to the fraudster.
Early this week, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar said that cybercriminals created fake WhatsApp accounts using his photograph as the display picture and sending messages to people to extract money by exploiting his identity. He urged citizens not to respond to such messages and to block and report the numbers immediately.
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