Meerut (Uttar Pradesh):A retired bank employee from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut was placed under 'digital arrest' for four days and forced to pay Rs 1.73 crore to cyber fraudsters who alleged that he was named in a money laundering case. Based on the victim's complaint, a case has been registered in Meerut cyber police station.
Victim, Suraj Prakash, resident of Civil Lines area in Meerut, received multiple calls in the last few days, where the caller threatened to send him to jail in connection with a money laundering case. He was put under 'digital arrest' for four days and was forced to transfer Rs 1.73 crore in several installments to the cyber fraudsters' account.
In his complaint to Meerut Police, the victim told that he had received the first call on September 17, where the caller introduced himself as an officer of the Telecom Department and warned him that all his registered mobile numbers are being blocked. The caller also told him that an account had been opened in one Canara Bank branch using his Aadhaar card, where Rs 6.80 crore had been transferred.
The caller gained the victim's confidence by sharing with him the latter's personal details which he claimed to have accessed from the account. Then, the caller told the elderly man that the huge amount of money had arrived at his account through money laundering. Immediately after this, the victim received another call on his WhatsApp number and this time the caller claimed that a report was filed against him in Mumbai.
The caller threatened to send him to jail and stopped him from leaving his house or meeting anyone. The victim said that he got extremely scared as the caller kept contacting him continuously and asking him to transfer money to clear his name from the alleged case.
On September 18, the victim transferred Rs 3.80 lakh and then Rs 5 lakh. On September 20, he transferred Rs 90 lakh. On September 21, he transferred Rs 45 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, the complainant said.