Mumbai: A 61-year-old retired police sub-inspector has fallen prey to a digital arrest scam and ended up losing his hard earned money. The scammers who claimed to be National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials told the victim that his links with a terrorist organisation had been found during a probe and induced the victim to transfer money in different beneficiary bank accounts.
Fake officials create fear through video calls
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and had retired from the police force in June 2023. On August 04, the victim received a phone call from a person claiming to be from the Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) office in Mumbai. The caller told the victim that a sim card had been issued in Mumbai on the victim's name which had been used for criminal activities.
After some time, the victim received a video call from a person claiming to be from NIA's Mumbai office and told the victim that his links with a terrorist organisation had surfaced during a money laundering probe. Later, another person who claimed to be a police officer told the victim and threatened to arrest him. Interestingly, the scammers told the victim that they were aware of him being a retired policeman.
Victim transferred ₹19 lakh in two transactions
The scammers sent bogus documents to the victim to place him under a digital arrest and induced the victim to transfer Rs 19 lakh in different beneficiary bank accounts in two online transactions on the pretext of helping him in the 'case'. Later, the victim narrated his ordeal to his friend who told him that he had been duped and advised him to lodge a police complaint.
He then approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter. A case has been registered by the police under sections 308 (extortion), 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act in the matter.
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