Maharashtra Cyber Fraud: 70-Year-Old Vasai Retired Official Duped Of ₹56 Lakh In 'Digital Arrest' Scam; Case Registered

Mumbai: A 70-year-old retired Mumbai Port Trust official lost Rs 56 lakh to scammers in digital arrest fraud. The scammers told the complainant that his links have cropped up in a Rs 539 crore fraud case probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and induced him to transfer money in different beneficiary bank accounts in order to assist him in the case.

Scam Details

According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Vasai. On July 14, the complainant had received a phone call from a person who claimed to be a CBI official. The caller told the complainant that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had been investigating a Rs 539 crore fraud case and had seized 250 ATM cards and one of the cards belonged to the complainant on which fraudulent transaction of Rs 2 crore had taken place.

The caller told the complainant that the CBI team might visit his place any time and that the complainant is likely to get arrested. Next day, the complainant again received a similar phone call and the caller made inquiries about the bank account and bank balance details from him.

The scammer also shared bogus court summons with the complainant and in order to assist the complainant and help him get out of the said 'case', the scammers induced the complainant to transfer money in different beneficiary bank accounts.

Fraud Timeline

Thereafter, from July 16 till July 24, the scammers made the complainant transfer Rs 56.88 lakh in different beneficiary bank accounts in seven online transactions. However, when the scammers kept calling the complainant asking him to pay more money, the complainant approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter. The complainant gave contact details of the scammers and fraudulent transaction details to the police in his complaint.

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Police Action

A case has been registered by the MB-VV police under sections 204 (Personating a public servant), 308 (extortion), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.