Bengaluru: The cases of digital arrests are soaring in Karnataka, which ranks second in the country as far such instances are concerned. The latest incident involved the digital arrest of a techie, who lost a whopping Rs 11.83 crore after he was put on 'ransom' for almost a month by cyber fraudsters in Bengaluru.
The CEN police station in Bengaluru North East division have registered a case based on the complaint of Vijay Kumar, who lost the money. Kumar, a software engineer in a private company, received a call from an unknown person on November 11. The man introduced himself as a representative of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). According to Kumar, he was threatened by the caller, who said , "The mobile number linked to your Aadhaar card has been used for sending illegal advertisements and messages. The service on that number is being suspended. And a case has been registered against you at the Cyber Crime Station in Colaba, Mumbai, and you will have to face trial."
A few minutes later, another unknown person called and asked him to download the Skype video calling app. Accordingly, Vijay Kumar downloaded the app. Then, a man in a police uniform made a video call and said, "I am a Mumbai Police officer. Businessman Naresh Goyal has opened an account in Canara Bank using your Aadhaar card and made transactions of Rs 6 crore. Therefore, he threatened that he will digitally arrest him on charges of money laundering." He also asked him not to give any information about the investigation into the case to anyone.
On November 25, the fraudster, who made a video call via Skype again, said, "The case against you is being heard in the Supreme Court. If you do not listen to what we say, your family members will also have to be arrested. As part of the investigation, your bank account needs to be checked and the money transferred." Accordingly, Vijay transferred Rs 75 lakh to the bank account given by the fraudsters for the first time. Thereafter, Rs 3.41 crore was sent to another account. Similarly, till December 12, the accused, who called Vijay Kumar daily and threatened to arrest him, transferred a total of Rs 11.83 crore to different accounts, police said..
When the fraudsters continued to harass him even after when he lost all his money. Kumar realised late that that was the act of cyber fraudsters. Later, he filed a complaint with the CEN police station of the North-East division. the details of the accounts to which the fraudsters transferred money are being collected and an investigation is underway, The police added.
491 digital arrest cases in 11 months
Karnataka is second place in the country in the list of digital arrest cases. Till November 2024, as many as 641 digital arrest cases were reported in Karnataka, where people lost Rs 109 crore. As many as 480 such cases were reported in Bengaluru, where Rs 42.4 crore was defrauded. The police have succeeded in confiscating only Rs 9 crore.
