Man duped of Rs 85 lakh in ‘digital arrest’ scam in Manimajra

The cyber crime police station has registered a case after a Chandigarh resident has been allegedly defrauded of Rs 85 lakh by unidentified cyber criminals operating a highly organised ‘digital arrest’ extortion racket. An FIR under various sections of the BNS has been lodged on the complaint of a retired officer of the Haryana Government, who lives in Manimajra.

The complainant received a call on October 9 from an individual, Vijay Pandit, claiming to be from the Telecom Authority of India. He was falsely informed that his Aadhaar number had been used to open a fraudulent bank account in Delhi, which was allegedly involved in money laundering. The caller then connected him to other individuals posing as senior vigilance and law enforcement officers, who used intimidation, fabricated verification procedures and manipulated video calls to trick him into believing that he was facing imminent arrest.

The impostors instructed the 75-year old senior citizen to “cooperate with the investigation” by transferring money into various bank accounts for so-called verification by the RBI. Fearing arrest, he deposited Rs 85 lakh in multiple transactions across accounts in Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India.

The FIR states that at one stage the criminals assured him that the money would be returned once the verification process would be complete. They also sent him fake court notices and fabricated RBI documents through WhatsApp to sustain the threat narrative. However, when a month passed with no refund and the fraudsters ceased communication, the complainant realised he had been duped.