Mumbai, May 21: The police have come across an interesting trend wherein scammers orchestrating digital arrest frauds are giving victims the option to either choose physical arrest or opt for digital arrest until their “probe” is over. Fearing damage to their image in society if the police reach their homes, innocent victims agree to digital arrest and end up losing their hard-earned money.
According to the police, the complainant, aged 66, is a retired person from Buldhana. Following his retirement, the complainant had savings of Rs 29 lakh in his bank account.
On April 15, the victim received a phone call from a person claiming to be a police officer. The caller told the victim that his mobile number had been found to be involved in terrorist activities.
Victim threatened with arrest
The victim then continued receiving several such calls from different mobile numbers. The scammer, who posed as a police officer, told the victim that he would help him in the case since he was a senior citizen and inquired about his savings and investments. The scammer then gave the victim two options: either he would face physical arrest or be placed under digital arrest pending investigation.
Fearing for his image in society if the police reached his home, the victim agreed to digital arrest. The scammer then placed the victim under “digital arrest” over a video call and induced him to transfer Rs 25 lakh on April 28 into a beneficiary bank account. Soon after, the scammers stopped responding to the victim’s calls, following which he realised that he had been duped.
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Case registered under BNS and IT Act
The victim then lodged a complaint on the cyber crime portal, following which a case was registered under Sections 204 (personating a public servant), 318 (cheating), and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act.
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