Victim of ‘digital arrest’, man sells flat to pay ₹75L to cyber fraudsters

A 65-year-old man in Mumbai was conned out of ₹75.5 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as police, claiming he was involved in a money laundering case.

MUMBAI: A 65-year-old was cheated of ₹75.5 lakh by cyber frauds posing as Delhi police, who claimed that he had been involved in a money laundering case where ₹2.83 crore illicit money was transferred to an account in his name.

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The frauds placed the man under a ‘digital arrest’ and coerced him into paying them by breaking his fixed deposits, cashing in money from investments in shares, and even selling a flat in Borivli.

According to the central cyber police, the man was a retired employee of Tata Hospital who lived with his wife in the BDD Chawl in Central Mumbai, not far from the NM Joshi Marg police station. From August 22 to October 27, the complainant kept getting calls from someone claiming to be an officer from the Delhi police.

The caller told the man that using his Aadhar card, PAN card, and other documents, several bank accounts had been opened where ₹2.83 crore illegal money had been deposited.

The fraud added that a team from the Mumbai police was on their way to arrest him, and until then they claimed they were putting him on “digital arrest”.

A police officer said,“Immediately, he got a video call on WhatsApp, showing a man sitting in a police uniform who claimed to be inspector Gopesh Kumar.

Kumar told him that they have already arrested some people for money laundering in this case.” The police added that the complainant was shown fake documents from the Supreme Court ordering his arrest and the freezing of his accounts.

Pay a ‘surety’ which will be returned: Frauds to man

To the scared complainant, the frauds said that to avoid an arrest he could pay a ‘surety’ which would later be returned to him if he is found innocent.

The frauds enquired into his investments and savings and found that he had invested about ₹18 lakh in mutual funds. “They told him to withdraw everything and later told him to transfer the money to their bank accounts,” said a police officer.

According to the police, the fraud called again, two days later, threatening to arrest him if he didn’t pay up.

“The complainant then told him he had a property in Borivali, and they asked him to sell that too. He sold the property for ₹64 lakh and then paid the accused around ₹48.5 lakhs after paying taxes and the pending maintenance fees,” the police officer added.

The complainant told the police that when they asked for even more money, he tried getting a loan too, but could not since he was retired.

A police officer said, “They told him his money would be returned in fifteen days but when he didn’t get the money back and could not reach any of the accused, he finally approached the local N M Joshi Marg police station, where the case was transferred to the Central Cyber police.”

The police have registered the case under sections 319 (cheating by personation), 318 (cheating), 308 (extortion), 336 (forgery) and 340 (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.