Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Despite repeated warnings and awareness campaigns, cases of online fraud like ‘digital arrest’ continue to surface in the city.
A senior citizen woman from the Nanda Nagar area was cheated of Rs 17 lakh by an online scammers who put her under ‘digital arrest’, police said on Wednesday. A case has been registered and investigations are underway to trace the accused on the basis of their mobile numbers.
According to the crime branch officials, a 60-year-old woman has lodged a complaint that she had received a call from a person claiming to be a telecom company official named Brijesh Sharma in July month. The caller informed that a SIM card issued in her name was allegedly used for money laundering.
Soon after, she received a WhatsApp call from another person who introduced himself as DCP Daya Nayak from Colaba Police Station in Mumbai. He told her that a CBI investigation was going on and she needed to come to Mumbai for an inquiry.
The caller then frightened her by saying that if she wanted to avoid arrest, she should cooperate in the investigation. He asked for her bank and ATM details and told her to transfer money to certain accounts for verification. Out of fear, the woman reportedly transferred Rs 17 lakh in several transactions while being digitally arrested as the caller was on video call. She had transferred some of the amount from her brother’s bank account.
Later, when she informed her brother, he realised it was a fraud and advised her to approach the police. Later, she reached the crime branch office and lodged a complaint and got the accounts blocked. Police said the woman has given three mobile numbers through which she was duped. A team has been constituted to identify and to arrest the online scammers. The crime branch officials again urged people not to trust unknown calls and never share banking details with unknown persons.
