Mumbai: In a case of digital arrest, an 87-year-old retired government employee was duped by a scammer who posed as a Mumbai police officer and induced the victim to transfer money in order to get himself "out" of a criminal case probed by the police.
Initial Contact
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Nagpur. On July 03, the victim received a WhatsApp video call from a person who claimed to be an IPS officer from Mumbai. The caller told the victim that a fraud had taken place with a bank and during the probe of the said case, a bank account of the victim that had been used in the crime had surfaced.
The caller then told the victim that if he wants to get himself out of the investigation, then he would have to follow instructions of the caller. The scammer then told the victim that he had been placed under a digital arrest and warned him not to reveal about this to anyone in his family.
Money Transfer Demand
The scammer then induced the victim to share information about his family members and his bank balances. The victim was then told to transfer Rs 10 lakh in an RBI account for verification purposes and once the victim is found cleared from the case, the money will be credited back in his bank account.
The victim was asked to keep the video call for an entire day. Next morning, the victim visited the bank and transferred money in a bank account provided by the scammer. For next two days, the victim was again kept in a digital arrest and was then asked to transfer more money.
The victim then called his son and informed him about the incident after which he learnt that he had been cheated. A complaint in this regard was then raised at the cyber crime portal after which a case has been registered under sections 204 (personating a public servant), 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act in the matter.
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