Noida woman put under ‘digital arrest’, duped of ₹11.11 lakh

The complainant, an engineer, received a call at 9.30am and was forced to stay on a video call till about 8pm the same night, by fraudsters pretending to be law enforcement agencies. Such an act is referred to as a digital arrest

A 50-year-old woman was allegedly put under ”digital arrest”, and was duped of ₹11.11 lakh by fraudsters claiming to be from law enforcement agencies, cyber crime police said on Friday.

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Reeta Yadav, the in-charge of cybercrime police station in Sector 36, said the matter was reported to them on November 22 by a resident of Sector 34.

“The complainant, an engineer, received a call at 9.30am and was forced to stay on a video call till about 8pm the same night, by fraudsters pretending to be law enforcement agencies. Such an act is referred to as a ”digital arrest”,” said the officer.

“A new form of cybercrime known as ”digital arrest” has emerged, where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials and deceive their targets into believing that their Aadhaar card or SIM card or debit card or bank account has been used for criminal activities. The cyberfrauds make the victim believe that they will be arrested soon, if they do not agree to be interrogated over video call,” said the officer.

The complainant, who does not wish to be identified, said she received an IVR (interactive voice response) call on the morning of November 13, and the caller told her that there is another SIM card in her name which was used for a fraud in Mumbai. “Then the call was transferred to another person posing as an IPS officer who first “interrogated” her over call and then asked her to join a video call,” said the complaint.

The complainant was then told that she has been named in a case of money laundering regarding which an FIR has been registered and an arrest warrant has been issued against her.

“The fraudster sent the alleged arrest warrant to the complainant over the video call. He then told her that he believed her not to be guilty but she will have to transfer funds from all her accounts to another PFC (power finance corporation) account, as per the directives of “supreme court auditors”,” said the officer.

In her complaint, the women informed the police that the cyber criminals asked her not to disclose any information to anyone as the matter pertained to ”national security”.

“The complainant was told that after she makes the fund transfers, the money will be reversed to her within three days after the auditor closes the investigation. However, when this did not happen, the complainant tried to reach out to fraudsters, and realised that she had been duped.She then submitted a complaint at cybercrime police station on November 22,” said Yadav,

The officer said the police have begun investigation into the matter and registered an FIR under relevant sections of the IT Act.