Slug: Digital Arrest
Surat: A 61-year-old man living in posh Vesu area was duped of Rs 1.71 crore by cybercrooks who put him under digital arrest for 15 days. The accused threatened the victim in the name of TRAI, CBI, RBI and Mumbai police.
On Sep 24, the man received a call from a person claiming to be an official from TRAI. He told the victim his Aadhaar number and cautioned him that two sim cards were active on his Aadhaar.
He also told the victim that his bank account was found to be associated with Naresh Goyal money laundering and fraud case. The conman instructed the victim to cooperate in a ‘secret investigation’ without telling anyone if he wanted to avoid a jail term.
After a few minutes, the senior citizen was made to talk to one Pradip Sawant, who identified himself as an sub-inspector from Andheri (E) police station by showing his ID card. He sent him documents showing his involvement in the Naresh Goyal money laundering case, along with a CBI letter to give his consent for investigation. He was also sent an RBI letter with Governor Shaktikant Das’s signature. The letter stated that there were 17 complaints against the victim for money laundering and the Supreme Court had issued two warrants in this case.
He was threatened that if he wanted to avoid arrest and seizure of his properties, he should transfer his money to bank accounts.
Fearing his arrest, the victim accepted the option to transfer money and started sharing information about all his bank accounts and investments in shares and mutual funds.
He started transferring funds from Sep 25 to the bank accounts given by the crooks. He was given receipts by ‘CBI’ for the payments he made. He was asked to send the message ‘I am safe now. Reporting from my home home… Good night’ every night before going to sleep.
From Sep 25 to Oct 7, he transferred a total of Rs 1.71 crore to various bank accounts. When he came across a video on YouTube about digital arrest, he realised that he had been cheated. He immediately complained on the cyber crime helpline number 1930, based on which a formal FIR was filed by Surat cybercrime police on Dec 22.
Surat cybercrime police booked five unknown persons under BNS and IT Act for cheating, extortion, and other offences.