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Now, swindlers come up with ‘digital arrest’ to trick Panchkula residents
Cyber fraudsters, posing as a Mumbai post office employee and a cop, duped a Panchkula resident of ₹9.30 lakh by keeping him under ‘digital arrest’ for 16 hours
Swindlers have devised a new way to dupe people — digital arrest — wherein the scammers posing as police officials extort money from the victim over video calls. One such case was registered in Panchkula on Thursday.
Cyber fraudsters posing as a Mumbai post office employee and a cop, duped a city resident of ₹9.30 lakh by keeping him under ‘digital arrest’ for 16 hours.
In his complaint, Dinesh Kumar Sharma of Mansa Devi Complex, Sector 5, Panchkula, told the police that he is working as director of skill development in Mohali. He said on August 1, at about 5.30 pm he received a call and the caller introduced himself from post office Mumbai and said that they have received a parcel in his name which could not be delivered at his address and they have found an ID card, uniform and 110 gram chemical.
When Kumar declined, the caller told him that his documents have been misused and connected him to another person posing as cop from Mumbai. The person then video called him and told him that he was digitally arrested.
They kept questioning him for about 16 hours and even took his bank details and made him transfer an amount of ₹9.3 lakh to an account claiming it to be of RBI’s. Kumar realised that he has been cheated when the caller asked for more money.
A case under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating), 338 (forgery), 336(3) (person commits forgery when they make a false document), 340 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document or electronic record), 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS has been registered.
In another case, Kunal Jain of Sector 4, Panchkula, told the police that he supplies iron parts to railways. He said that on August 7, he got a call from man posing as employee of Kotak Mahindra bank and told him that a payment of ₹3.5 lakh is pending against his credit card.
Jain said he does not have any credit card and refused to pay. The caller then started threatening him. Next day, when he went to the bank in Sector 11, he was told that a saving account has been opened in his name using his documents and against which a credit card has been issued.
On checking the bank records, his signatures and other details did not match. A case under Sections 318 (4)(cheating), 338 (forgery), 336 (3) (person commits forgery when they make a false document), 340 (2) (forged document and electronic record) of BNS was registered at the cyber crime police station in Sector 12, Panchkula.
Kavita Saini of Sector 20, Panchkula, was also targeted by cyber criminals. She told police that she is working as senior accountant with Haryana education department. She said on July 19, she received a video call on WhatsApp, with the caller telling her that her KYC for credit card has to be updated. But she told them that she wants to get the credit card blocked.
So the caller told her that her credit card will be blocked for which she was asked to fill a form. They sent the form on WhatsApp. When she was unable to open the form, she informed the caller, who asked her to press a button. She later realised that she has shared her screen with them. Thus using her details the accused duped her of ₹1.66 lakh. A case under relevant sections of the BNS was registered in cyber police station, Sector 12, Panchkula.
