New Delhi/Noida: In the first case of digital arrest in Noida, a mother-daughter duo was duped by cyber crooks of Rs 36.6 lakh after being held digitally for four days with the threat to implicate them in money laundering and human trafficking cases. The duo complained to the Cyber Crime Police Station which froze Rs two lakh of the defrauded amount and is looking for the account to which the amount was deposited.
In their complaint, Sector-77 resident Taruna Gaba said she recently did an MBA and applied for jobs at many places. Her father died about two decades ago. She and her mother, Shashi Gaba, hold a joint account in a private bank. On November 27, Taruna received a call from an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as an officer of TRAI informing that the Aadhar cards of Taruna and her mother have been misused to issue a SIM card that was used in human organ trafficking. Apart from this, their bank accounts and Aadhar cards have been used in money laundering cases.
After this, Taruna and her mother were connected through Skype where they were asked to come to Mumbai for interrogation with an alternative of online cooperation. After this, the alleged TRAI officer transferred the call to 'Mumbai Police' who sent an arrest warrant to the complainant's mobile. Apart from this, they expressed the fear of an encounter between the mother and daughter. To avoid all this, both were asked to transfer the money from their joint accounts to another account. The fraudsters assured that after investigation, all money would be refunded to the original account.
To avoid jail, Taruna transferred Rs 36.6 lakh in two instalments to the account mentioned by the fraudsters. The victim could not come out of fear even after the end of the ordeal, which happened from November 27 to 30, and was even scared of approaching the police. However, while narrating the ordeal to an acquaintance later, they knew about the fraud and complained online.