Ex-merchant navy officer, 100-yr-old father lose ₹1.29 cr in digital arrest scam

Cybercriminals, posing as CBI officers, kept Surinder Pal Singh (70) and his father Hardev Singh under digital arrest for six days.

A retired merchant navy officer and his 100-year-old father lost ₹1.29 crore as they fell victim to a digital arrest scam, police said on Thursday.

The caller, identified himself as a CBI officer named Alok Singh, and told Hardev Singh that an arrest warrant was issued against him. (Representative Image)

Cybercriminals, posing as CBI officers, kept Surinder Pal Singh (70) and his father Hardev Singh under digital arrest for six days, they said.

Surinder Pal Singh, a resident of Sainik Housing Society in Lucknow, filed a complaint at Sarojini Nagar police station on Wednesday.

According to the complaint, on August 20, Hardev Singh received a call from an unknown number. The caller, identified himself as a CBI officer named Alok Singh, told Hardev Singh that an arrest warrant was issued against him in a money laundering case.

The caller then proceeded to "digitally arrest" him via WhatsApp, police said.

Another scammer, also posing as a CBI official, called Hardev Singh reinforcing the threat. In a state of panic, the centenarian was manipulated into sharing bank account details with the fraudsters under the pretext of verification.

When Surinder Pal Singh returned home, he found his father in a frightened state of mind. Fearing his father's arrest, Surinder Pal Singh, who holds a joint bank account with him, complied with the scammers' demands, police said.

Between August 21 and 26, he transferred a total of ₹1.29 crore in a few transactions to the bank accounts provided by the fraudsters.

Station House Officer of Sarojini Nagar police station, Rajdev Ram Prajapati, said that the matter is under investigation.