Retired I-T officer loses ₹51 lakh in ‘digital arrest’ fraud; mule account holder held

MUMBAI: A 75-year-old retired Income Tax officer from Dahisar was allegedly duped of ₹51 lakh by cyber frauds who kept him under a “digital arrest” for days and threatened him with imprisonment in a fake money-laundering case

MUMBAI: A 75-year-old retired Income Tax officer from Dahisar was allegedly duped of ₹51 lakh by cyber frauds who kept him under a “digital arrest” for days and threatened him with imprisonment in a fake money-laundering case. Police have arrested a man who allegedly provided his bank accounts to the frauds to receive and route the money.

The accused, Mohammad Safwan Abdul Hamid, was arrested after the North Region Cyber police traced him using technical information. Police said their investigation has also revealed the identities of other suspects and a special operation has been launched to apprehend them.

According to police, the complainant, Dhananjay Balwant Sawant, retired as an Income Tax officer in 2010. In January, he received a video call from a man dressed in a police uniform who identified himself as Premkumar Gautam, a senior Lucknow Police officer.

The caller allegedly told Sawant that a bank account had been opened using his documents and was being used for transactions involving lakhs of rupees linked to money laundering. Soon after, two others, posing as police inspector Vijay Khanna and Director General of Police Rakesh Agrawal, contacted him through video calls.

Police said the frauds threatened to send officers to his home if he spoke to anyone about the case or failed to follow their instructions. They also sent him forged documents and sought details of his bank accounts.

Believing the callers to be genuine police officers, Sawant transferred ₹51 lakh from his bank accounts and other deposits to an account specified by them, purportedly a “secure” account where the money would remain until the investigation was over.

After receiving the money, the frauds stopped contacting him, police said. Sawant’s wife later became suspicious after noticing that he was unusually quiet and appeared distressed. When he told her what had happened, she informed him that there was no such concept as a “digital arrest”. Realising that he had been duped, Sawant approached the North Region Cyber police in May, following which a case was registered.

During the investigation, police traced Abdul Hamid and detained him. Interrogation allegedly revealed that he had provided his bank accounts to the cyber frauds. Police said part of the cheated money was transferred into his account and subsequently withdrawn by members of the fraud network, with Abdul Hamid allegedly receiving a commission for facilitating the transactions.

He was arrested and produced before a magistrate’s court in Borivali, which remanded him in police custody.