Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber fraudsters posing as CBI officials duped a 72-year-old retired Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board (MPEB) employee by placing him under digital arrest for three days and forcing him to transfer Rs 3 lakh in a bank account.
According to complaint lodged at Kolar police station, Jagannath Rathore of Shirdipuram Colony on Kolar Road received a call three days ago in which the caller claimed that a fraud had been committed using his mobile SIM. Soon after the victim was contacted through a video call on WhatsApp by another person who introduced himself as a CBI sub-inspector.
The caller allegedly threatened the elderly man and told him that he had been “digitally arrested,” and warned him not to inform anyone about the matter. The fraudsters kept him under constant fear and pressure for nearly three days during which they monitored him through calls and messages.
On January 8, under intimidation the victim was allegedly coerced into transferring Rs 3 lakh from his bank account through RTGS to an account number given by the fraudsters. After realising that he had been cheated, the retired employee on Thursday night approached the police and submitted a written complaint.
Police have registered a case under Information Technology Act for cheating and online fraud. Kolar police station incharge Sanjay Soni said an investigation had begun to trace the mobile users and bank account involved in the fraud.
