Mumbai: A 65-year-old woman fell prey to scammers and lost over Rs 83 lakh in a digital arrest fraud. The scammers, who claimed to be from Mumbai police, told the complainant that her Aadhar card had been used to procure a SIM card which was then used for money laundering and terrorism funding activities and induced the complainant to transfer money in different bank accounts for verification purposes.
This year, Mumbai police have registered 84 cases of digital arrest, out of which 23 cases were detected and 30 persons involved were arrested.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Beed. On May 20, the complainant received a phone call from a person who claimed to be from Mumbai police.
The caller informed that a SIM card had been purchased on April 16 on the complainant's name and that money laundering and terrorism funding activities have taken place on the complainant's name.
The caller also asked the complainant to cooperate in the investigation and told her that she had been put under digital arrest. The complainant also said that in the video call, the scammer had used the Mumbai police logo, making her believe that it was a genuine call.
From May 21 till May 29, the complainant was induced to transfer Rs 83 lakh in different beneficiary bank accounts through online transactions. Later, when the complainant blocked her number the complainant realised that she had been duped.
She then approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter last week. A case has been registered under sections 318 (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 66 (computer related offences), 66C (identity theft) of the Information Technology Act.
In April this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had issued an alert for citizens warning them about telecom users being targeted through telephonic calls or messages by fraudsters posing as TRAI officials threatening disconnection of mobile connection for being involved in illegal activities and for extraction of money. The scammers mostly in cases of digital arrest fraud have been found posing as TRAI officials to dupe unsuspecting victims.
