Dehradun (Uttarakhand): In yet another case of digital arrest, a retired teacher in Uttarakhand has been duped of over Rs 2 crore by fraudsters, who digitally arrested him for nine days while impersonating Mumbai Crime Branch officers. Police have registered a case against the unknown accused.
The incident has come to light under Kotwali Patel Nagar area where the teacher was trapped by the cyber thugs, who frightened the victim of fraudulent transaction of Rs 20 lakh in a money laundering case.
Modus Operandi: In his police complaint, Niranjanpur resident, retired teacher Mahipal Singh said that on September 9, he received a call with the caller introducing himself as Sub Inspector Vinoy Kumar Choubey from the Mumbai Cyber Crime. The caller asked him to talk on video call regarding a case, Singh said.
He said that while being on a video call with the caller, the latter told him that a bank account had been opened with his Aadhar card and mobile number, in which a transaction of Rs 20 lakh had been done for money laundering.
Victim Digitally Arrested: Singh said that the caller told him that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. When he asked for a way to save himself, he was told that he will be under their surveillance and will have to send messages on WhatsApp every three hours to show his presence, Singh said. Besides, the caller also told him that he had been barred from traveling outside his hometown.
Singh said that on September 10, the same caller called him again and asked him to talk to “police officer Akash Kulhari”. Besides, notices and court documents were also sent to Singh to make him believe that he had indeed been booked in a money laundering case, he said. He said that between September 11 and September 17, the fraudsters made him transfer Rs 2.27 crore to their accounts. When the cyber thugs asked to deposit more money, he realized that he had been cheated, Singh told police.
Case Registered: Cyber Crime CO Ankush Mishra said that a case has been registered against the unknown accused on the basis of the complaint of the victim. The bank accounts in which the money was transferred by the victim are being investigated, he added. He also said that cases of digital arrest are increasing rapidly in cyber fraud incidents.
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