Vasai lawyer loses ₹50L to digital arrest fraud

Between March 25 and April 2, she paid ₹50 lakh to the frauds via multiple RTGS transactions to avoid being arrested physically

MUMBAI: A 52-year-old lawyer from Vasai West has lost ₹50 lakh to cyber frauds who impersonated Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers and claimed that she had been placed under digital arrest. The lawyer paid the frauds via multiple RTGS transactions over eight days till she realised she was being duped. Four unidentified persons have been booked for defrauding her based on her complaint, said police.

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According to the police, on March 25, the lawyer received a call from an unidentified number. The caller claimed to be a CBI officer and told the woman that a mobile number had been obtained using her Aadhaar details and obscene messages had been sent from that number. She was also told that a bank account had been opened in her name in HDFC Bank in Delhi and proceeds of money laundering and other crimes had been deposited in that account.

The so-called CBI officer then asked the lawyer to talk to his superior and added another person to the call. This person, who posed as a senior CBI officer, told the lawyer that she had been placed under digital arrest and was not allowed to talk to or call anyone.

“The lawyer did not suspect anything as the men appeared like police officers,” an officer from Vasai police station told Hindustan Times.

Between March 25 and April 2, she paid ₹50 lakh to the frauds via multiple RTGS transactions to avoid being arrested physically. After realising that she was being cheated, she reported the matter at Vasai police station on Monday.

Based on her complaint, four unidentified persons have been booked under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, said police.