Mumbai: In yet another digital arrest scam, a 61-year-old retired professor lost Rs7.68 lakh to fake police, who kept him under virtual surveillance November 2 to 14. Linking him with the money-laundering case involving Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, the scammers fleeced him by sharing bogus FIR and a video of a crying woman, apparently a fake victim.
According to the FIR, the complainant, Dr Sunny Thomas Fernandes, a retired professor from St Andrew’s College, Bandra West, lives alone on rent at Vatsalatai Naik Nagar, Chembur. On November 2 at around 2.16pm, he received a call from an unknown number. The caller, claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, told Dr Fernandes that “illegal messages” were being sent from his number. When he denied, the fraudster sent him a fake FIR copy on WhatsApp.
While the senior citizen was unable to connect the dots, another officer instantly called him, while posing as a cybercrime officer, and flagged his “financial dealings” linked to the Goyal case. A third caller, identifying “investigating officer Sandeep Rao,” instructed Dr Fernandes to send hourly WhatsApp messages, saying “I am safe sir, Jai Hind, good morning”. For intense psychological impact, the scammers told the professor that the case was “related to national security” and that he must not disclose the matter to anyone, forcing him to suffer in silence for 13 days.
On November 14, during a WhatsApp video call, the fraudsters compelled him to transfer a total of Rs7,68,994 under the pretext of “funds verification”. Around 10 days later, the gang again made a video-call, said the professor, recounting that he saw a 'cop' and a 'judge'. A crying woman was also shown in the frame, with the fake judge asking to pay a Rs25 lakh bail bond, he added.
The terrified professor then contacted his former student, a Customs officer, who explained the digital arrest scam. A case has been filed against the owners of the phone numbers and bank accounts used in the scam.
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