Two arrested in ₹1.72 cr digital arrest fraud

MUMBAI: Two Pune men were arrested for duping a retired teacher of ₹1.72 crore through a digital arrest fraud, coercing her with fake law enforcement claims.

MUMBAI: The Central Cyber Police on Wednesday arrested two Pune residents for duping a 61-year-old retired teacher of ₹1.72 crore through a digital arrest fraud.

Two arrested in ₹1.72 cr digital arrest fraud

The arrested accused were identified as Ajay Sundar Divekar, 40, and Nitin Atmaram More, 41, who received ₹32 lakh out of the defrauded amount, according to the police. The two accused were brought to Mumbai on Wednesday for interrogation, said deputy commissioner of police Datta Nalawade. The police are investigating to find other individuals involved in the fraud.

A digital arrest is a type of cyber fraud where criminals impersonate law enforcement officers to coerce victims into paying money under the false pretence of an arrest.

According to the police, the cyber fraudsters contacted the woman from an unidentified mobile number, claiming that they were from a courier company. They told her that a case has been registered against her as they found a parcel containing her passport, credit card and MDMA drugs, adding that a senior crime branch officer would question her on a video call.

The woman then got a video call from a person claiming to be the senior investigating officer, who told her that their investigation had revealed she was connected to the money-laundering case linked to Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. An officer from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would also question her on a video call, the person said.

The woman then got video calls from multiple people claiming to be ED officers, who told her she was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and a few other illegal activities. They eventually coerced the woman to make five transactions amounting to ₹1.72 crore by threatening to arrest her. She was told that the amount would be returned if the agency found her innocent, the police said.

After the victim was left with no money to transfer, the fraudsters stopped contacting her. That’s when she realised she was duped and approached the Central Cyber police station. A case was registered on March 6.

On checking the money trail, the police found that More’s bank account was used in one of the transactions. The police said that More was offered a commission of ₹15,000 for renting his bank account to Divekar for carrying out the transaction.