Mumbai: A 61-year-old woman lost over Rs 17 lakh in a digital arrest scam. Interestingly, when an acquaintance visited her home, he realized she was on a “digital arrest” call and alerted her that she was being duped.
About The Case
According to the police, the complainant, a resident of Amravati, received a call on August 6 from a person claiming to be from the Colaba police station. The caller told her that a SIM card had been procured using her Aadhaar details and was being used to circulate obscene videos and 20 such complaints had been received. Later, the complainant received another call from someone posing as an official of the Data Protection Board of India, who claimed that an arrest warrant had been issued against her.
The scammers forced the woman to reveal details about her savings, investments, gold jewellery, and assets in her locker. Between August 13 and 16, she was induced to transfer Rs17.20 lakh into multiple bank accounts through online transactions. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using a computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
About Another Case
Meanwhile, in another case, the police are searching for scammers who allegedly used a deepfake video and a forged FIR to dupe a 52-year-old woman of Rs 12.40 lakh in a digital arrest scam. The complainant, a Raigad resident employed in a private company, received a call on August 30 from a man claiming her Aadhaar details had been used to open a bank account in which Rs 2 crore linked to a fraud case had been deposited. The caller further said that an FIR had been registered in her name.
On September 2, she received another call, this time a video call showing three men in police uniforms. One of them appeared as a Maharashtra police officer using a deepfake image. The scammers told her that an enforcement directorate probe had been initiated and that she had been placed under digital arrest. They also shared a bogus FIR carrying her name and coerced her into sharing her fixed deposit details.
She was then induced to transfer Rs 12.40 lakh into multiple bank accounts. A case has been registered under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), 340 (forgery of documents or electronic records and using them as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
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