Chandigarh man falls prey to 'digital arrest', loses Rs. 51.27 lakhs
The fraudsters posed as enforcement officials, CBI and Mumbai Police and claimed to have 'arrested" him
New Delhi, November 25
A Chandigarh resident fell prey to the recent digital arrest scams in the country and lost Rs 51.27 lakhs. The fraudsters posed as enforcement officials, CBI and Mumbai Police.
The police identified the victim as Hari Nath Singh, who received a phone call on October 2, and was informed a SIM card had been issued in his name in Mumbai using his Aadhaar Card. A woman called him claiming from a telephone department and told him that his phone number will be closed for service as the number connected with the Aadhaar Card has been used for another SIM card, from which further a fraud was committed and multiple FIRs have been registered at Maharashtra.
He was then told he will be connected with a policeman from Maharashtra Police, who further told him that there has been a fraud committed at Mumbai and his involvement is also under probe. On that pretext, he was was asked to deposit all the cash he had in different bank accounts, keep his phone away and not step out from his home. To validate his assets, the victim was told to consolidate his funds, including FDs, bank balances, and investments, and transfer the total amount to a specified RBI account for verification purposes.
He told police that from October 2 to October 24, till 4 pm in the evening, he was only allowed to go outside his residence to get cash withdrawn from his account, to deposit it further in the given accounts of RBI.
The police have now roped in the cyber crime cell to probe the case further and aide the victim.
