Thane: The Kapurbawdi police have booked unidentified scammers for allegedly defrauding an 80-year-old retired official from the Maharashtra Water Conservation Department in a digital arrest scam, resulting in a loss of Rs 4,20,60,000. The incident occurred between April 14 and April 30, during which the scammer contacted the victim over the phone and "digitally arrested" him.
According to the FIR, the complainant has been identified as Vinod Joshi. On April 14, he received a call from someone posing as an officer from the telecom department. The caller claimed that a bank account had been opened using Joshi's Aadhaar card under the name Naresh Goyal, and that the account was being used for money laundering. The caller further alleged that an FIR had been registered against Joshi at the Kurla police station for allegedly threatening a shopkeeper.
The caller instructed Joshi to approach the crime unit and obtain a clearance certificate, which he later sent back to the scammer. The call was then transferred to another individual who claimed that an arrest warrant from the Supreme Court had been issued against Joshi. He was told he would be kept under observation until further hearings. The scammers sent him fake Supreme Court documents and warned him not to leave his home without permission.
Subsequently, Joshi received a video call from someone named Rao, who showed him what appeared to be court proceedings, including a person pretending to be a judge who granted a seven-day remand.
The scammers claimed that top banking agencies would investigate his account to determine if it was involved in money laundering. They instructed him to transfer funds to accounts supposedly belonging to these agencies. Six bank account numbers were sent to Joshi via WhatsApp, and out of fear, he transferred Rs 4.2 crore to the scammers.
Later, Joshi informed his son about the incident, and they realized he had been cheated. They approached the police and filed a First Information Report (FIR). An FIR has been registered against Rao and an unidentified individual under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, along with Sections 318(4), 336(3), 337, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
Shriram Paul, Senior Police Inspector at the Kapurbawdi Police Station, stated, "The case is being investigated by the cyber cell of the crime branch."
