3 of cyber gang held for duping elderly couple of ₹4 cr in “digital arrest” fraud

In yet another case of a “digital arrest” fraud, the cyber police have arrested three men associated with a cyber gang that allegedly cheated an elderly couple of nearly ₹4 crore

MUMBAI: In yet another case of a “digital arrest” fraud, the cyber police have arrested three men associated with a cyber gang that allegedly cheated an elderly couple of nearly ₹4 crore.

The police said that the accused scared the couple by telling them that they were involved in the money laundering of crores of rupees and a case was registered against them. (Shutterstock)

According to the north region cyber police, the accused, Vilas More, Rizwan Khan and Kasim Sheikh, had opened several bank accounts to carry out the fraud. The police said that money from across the country was deposited into the accused’s banks, and the accounts related to the frauds have now been frozen.

On October 27, an unknown person called the complainants, an elderly couple from Goregaon, claiming to be an officer of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The fraud told the couple that their personal documents had been used to open several banks in the country, and large amounts of money had been transferred to those accounts.

The police said that the accused scared the couple by telling them that they were involved in the money laundering of crores of rupees and a case was registered against them. The frauds claimed the couple would be questioned by CBI officers, and soon after, accomplices of the frauds pretending to be CBI officers from Mumbai and Delhi called the couple.

The frauds even sent the couple letters with signatures and stamps of government officials along with a court notice too, all via WhatsApp. The frauds then placed the couple under ‘strict surveillance’ through video calls, and forced them to transfer money into the provided accounts and cooperate with the investigation. Afraid, the couple transferred ₹4 crore to the accused and were informed that the money would be returned to their account once the investigation was complete.

When no money was returned to their account and the accused stopped answering calls or messages, the complainants finally approached the police. The elderly couple finally registered a complaint with the police cyber cell in mid November, and the police immediately began trying to trace the accounts where the money had been transferred.

The banks were found to be registered to the three accused who were then nabbed, produced before a local court in Borivali and remanded to police custody for four days.