'Digital Arrest' Nightmare: Punjab Resident Targeted In Extortion Scam, Loses 43 Lakh Rupees

Saranjit Singh received a phone call pretending to be from police officials at the Mumbai airport informing him that one of his parcels being sent to Iran was caught there. The caller introduced himself as Senior Police Inspector of Pradeep Sawant Crime Branch and said that the parcel contained two Indian passports, and drugs and Mumbai Crime Branch had registered a case in this matter.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand): In a shocking incident of cybercrime, cyber scammers posing as police officers 'digitally arrested' a Punjab resident living in Shivalik Nagar, Haridwar and extorted 43 lakh rupees to their accounts. The state Cyber Police has launched an investigation against the unknown accused following the complaint of Saranjit Singh, a resident of Jalandhar, Punjab working as the Vice Chairman of a company in Shivalik Nagar, Haridwar.

According to the complaint, Saranjit Singh received a phone call pretending to be from police officials at the Mumbai airport informing him that one of his parcels being sent to Iran was caught there. The caller introduced himself as Senior Police Inspector of Pradeep Sawant Crime Branch and said that the parcel contained two Indian passports, and drugs and Mumbai Crime Branch had registered a case in this matter.

Taking advantage of his scare, they added that his Aadhar number was also used in the crime. Cybercriminals then threatened Saranjit Singh through a video call, claiming to be police officers. They created a convincing environment to mimic a police station and introduced a person posing as DCP Amneet Kondal.

Frightened by the deception, Saranjit was kept online for three hours as the scammers obtained his account information. Subsequently, they transferred 43 lakh rupees from his accounts in seven transactions.

Cyber CO Ankush Mishra informed that a case has been registered against the unidentified perpetrators based on Saranjit's complaint. Authorities are now investigating the accounts used for the fraudulent transfers and taking further action.