Jodhpur: A doctor from Rajasthan's Jodhpur district was put under 'digital arrest' for 24 hours, leading to a loss of Rs 9.5 lakh. A complaint has been registered in this regard in Sadar Kotwali police station. This is the fourth 'digital arrest' case in Jodhpur since August.
Investigating officer SI Pukhraj of Sadar Kotwali police station said Dr Mohammad Shakir Gauri (49), a medical officer in the health department, was pressurised by scammers posing as customs officials into transferring money to avoid getting arrested under money laundering charges. The caller claimed that custom officials had intercepted a parcel containing fake passports, credit cards, laptop and MDMA.
Dr Gauri, who lives near the Mahawaton ki Masjid at Nagauri Gate, received a call on October 6, where the caller informed him of intercepting a parcel and asked him to "press 1" for more information. On pressing 1, a person identifying himself as Amit Sharma, informed that a parcel has been booked in his name. When the complainant told that he had not booked any such parcel, the caller stressed that it was booked from Delhi to Thailand in his name. He said that the parcel was intercepted at Delhi airport and was found carrying five passports, three credit cards, 4.2 kg clothes, one laptop and 1.4 grams of MDMA.
The scammers threatened the doctor of imposing money laundering charges and asked him to reach Delhi Crime Branch within two hours. When the complainant said it was difficult for him to travel from Jodhpur to Delhi on such a short notice, the scammer connected him via a video call. Introducing himself as IPS Samadhan Panwar, he said that an account was found operating in his name with funding from Pakistan. He was also told that of the five seized passports, three are from Pakistan. When the complainant denied this, the scammers threatened that a case of human trafficking was also being lodged against him.
They then put Dr Gauri under 'digital arrest' for 24 hours and during this period he was not allowed to use his mobile phone or contact his family members. They managed to convince him to transfer Rs 9.5 lakh through RTGS, assuring him that the amount will be automatically credited to his account after six hours.
When the complainant checked his WhatsApp at 6 pm, he found that the scammer had gone offline. He called the number but there was no response. Finally, he realised that he had been duped and lodged a police complaint.
This is the fourth case of 'digital arrest' in Jodhpur in the last two months. The first case of 'digital arrest' was reported in August, where the fraudsters had duped an IIT professor of Rs 23 lakh. After this, a former department head of the medical college lost Rs 87 lakh in cyber fraud. In the third case, a dentist was duped of Rs 6 lakh.
Read more
