Put Under 'Digital Arrest' For 8 Days, Jaipur Man Duped Of Rs 4.5 Lakh In Fake Terror Funding Case

The online fraudsters told the victim that Rs 20 lakh was sent from his account to fund terrorist activities and the case will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court. They forced him to withdraw his FD and transfer Rs 4.5 lakh to their accounts in order to avoid arrest.

Jaipur: A Jaipur-based man lost Rs 4.5 lakh in an online fraud, where cyber criminals put him under 'digital arrest' for eight days in a Rs 712 crore terror funding case.

Based on his complaint, a case was registered at Vaishali Nagar police station on Saturday. Rajasthan Police said this is the first case where the duration of 'digital arrest' was so long.

ACP Vaishali Nagar Alok Gautam said the victim, a resident of Vaishali Nagar in Jaipur, received a call on August 1, where the caller introduced himself as an RBI officer and told him that he is a credit card defaulter but the victim denied having any credit card. After this, the caller asked him to talk to Hyderabad Police and transferred the call to a woman, who introduced herself as a police officer. She now told the victim that his bank account has been used for terror funding of Rs 712 crore.

The victim told police that when he denied of any such involvement, the woman said that Rs 20 lakh has been sent from his account for funding terrorist activities. After which, she took down the details of the bank and Aadhar card from the victim. She threatened him saying the case is being transferred to the Supreme Court and many people have been identified as suspects of whom, 194 have already been arrested.

The woman further said that investigation is underway against the victim as well and he will be arrested soon. After which, the cyber frauds sent fake warrants and notices to the victim. He also received calls from different numbers with callers posing as officers of different investigation agencies who threatened him of arrest.

The victim was made to buy a new mobile phone and download an app, on which the victim was kept under surveillance through video calls. Then, he was made to stay in a hotel for a day under surveillance. Finally, the victim was duped of Rs 4.55 lakh to avoid arrest.

Police said the fraudsters accessed his account and pressured him for a premature withdrawal of his Fixed Deposit (FD). The victim was also compelled to go to the bank for withdrawing his FD.

The fraud surfaced on Friday, when the victim approached his father to discuss his bank account and on further inquiry learnt about the matter. He immediately got the video call disconnected and a case was registered at the police station on Saturday.

ACP Alok Gautam asked people not to get frightened by such fake calls and immediately inform the police. The Central government has launched a portal to prevent cyber and online frauds. Victims should complain at the portal or the cyber crime helpline number 1930, he said.

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