Retired major general put under ‘digital arrest’ for five days, duped of ₹2 crore by fraudsters
The retired officer was assured by the fraudster that the money would return to him within half an hour but when that did not happen, he realised that he had been duped, police said
Noida: A 79-year-old retired major general of the Indian army, currently residing in Noida, was allegedly put under “digital arrest” for five days from August 10 to 15 by online fraudsters posing as law enforcement personnel, and duped of ₹2 crore, said senior cybercrime investigators on Wednesday.
According to police, a “digital arrest” is one in which a person is forced to stay on video calls with scammers, often confined to a room, until their demands are met.
Police said the retired officer transferred ₹2 crore from his bank account to one provided by the fraudsters in a single transaction, via RTGS. The bank manager also tried to stop him from transferring such a huge amount, but he ignored the warning.
The retired officer, when contacted by HT, requested anonymity, and said, “After reading another article on digital arrest published recently in a newspaper, I came to know about this fraud and hence I approached the police.”
Police said the officer resides in Noida’s Sector 31 with his family. In his complaint to police, the major general said that on August 10, he received a call from an unidentified number, wherein the caller identified himself as a representative of a courier company based in Mumbai.
“I was informed that a parcel was booked in my name from Mumbai to Taiwan. When customs officers opened the parcel, they found five passports, four bank credit cards, clothes, 200gm MDMA, and a laptop. The caller told me that these were all illegal items and perhaps my Aadhaar card was compromised and that I should make an online complaint to Mumbai crime branch,” the retired army officer said.
Later, his call was transferred to another person who claimed to be a senior officer of Mumbai police and showed him his “ID card” on video call to establish “trust”. “The entire conversation was carried out via video call on WhatsApp and the suspect interrogated him while showing him a fake “consent to confidentiality” letter to make the major general belive that their conversations were highly confidential,” said Vivek Ranjan, assistant commissioner of police (cybercrime).
Ranjan said the major general was also told not to share any information regarding the call or the conversation with anyone to avoid legal action and imprisonment.
The major general further said, “I was virtually kept at home while being connected to them via the phone calls. I was required to share my movements. I felt as if I was under house arrest. The suspect also mentioned that such people can even attack physically, and gave the example of a doctor couple who were killed in Chennai.”
The suspects then checked his financial status and asked him to transfer the money to an account they provided to prove “his innocence”.
“On August 14, he was provided a bank account and asked to transfer all the money in his account for clearance from the “RBI”. He then approached the bank and when he was filling out the out the RTGS form to transfer ₹2 crore, the bank manager warned him not to do so and also advised him to inform his son, but he did not pay heed ,” said Ranjan.
“The retired officer was assured by the fraudster that the money would return to him within half an hour but when that did not happen, he realised that he had been duped,” said Ranjan adding that some bank accounts have been identified and efforts are underway to nab the suspects.
Subsequently, the retired officer approached the Sector 20 police station with a complaint and was advised to approach the cybercrime branch police station in Sector 36.
“On his complaint, a case under sections 308(2) (extortion), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and 66(D) (cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the IT Act was registered at the cybercrime branch police station on Tuesday,” said Vijay Kumar Gautam, cybercrime Branch station house officer.