Gang of four digitally arrest senior citizen in Bengaluru, rob ₹83 lakh

The Hindu

3 days ago

A gang of four, posing as Mumbai Crime Branch officials, digitally arrested a 78-year-old man for two months (May 21 to July 10), and robbed him of his lifetime savings of ₹83.2 lakh after threatening to book him in a bank fraud case.
The victim, a resident of Thippasandra HAL 3rd stage, even borrowed money from his friends to pay the imposters, who threatened him and his son with arrest if he did not pay up.
The fraud came to light when the victim went to his native place in Belagavi, and narrated the ordeal to his son, who advised him to report the incident to 1930 (cyber crime helpline) before filing a formal complaint with the east division cyber crime police on Monday.
The victim, in his complaint, said that the ordeal began on May 21, when he received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Jyothi Vishwanath from the cyber crime branch of Mumbai, and told the victim that he was involved in a bank fraud case, and that his bank account (SBI passbook) details were recovered from a person who committed this crime, according to the complaint. The victim was allegedly told that he was also one of the accused in the bank fraud case, and hence will be arrested.
The caller also informed the victim that the prime accused in the fraud case had purchased a SIM card in his name in Mumbai, which confirmed his involvement, the complaint said.
The accused allegedly made multiple calls to the victim and threatened him of dire consequences if he did not provide his bank account access for verification.
The complainant further said that another person posing as a public prosecutor also called, and offered to help with the proceedings and forced him to part with the money. The victim was also reportedly told that he was put under surveillance via Whatsapp video calls, and that he should not contact anyone about this.
The victim followed their instruction, after the accused allegedly assured him that the money will be transferred back to his account once the case is closed, and said that he can collect the letter of confirmation from the nearest police station after his name is dropped from the case.
Atter waiting for two months, the victim did not receive any money and made up his mind to visit his native place to attend a family function, where his son advised him to approach the police and raise the complaint online.
The police are trying to track down the accused through call records and online transaction details. The police have said that there is no such thing as a 'digital arrest', and people should not entertain ransom calls made on the pretext of such cases.
In a similar case, a 74-year-old woman, and resident of Koramangala was threatened by conmen with digital arrest and forced to transfer ₹ 77.8 lakh on June 24. The victim told the central division cyber crime police that the accused, posing as Mumbai police, told her that someone used her Aadhaar card in a ₹4 crore bank fraud, and threatened to arrest her. They forced her to share her bank account details and transfer all her savings, assuring to return the same after investigations. The accused even threatened her not to disclose this to anyone, and assured to help her in the case.