A 77-year-old woman from Mumbai has been duped in a shocking case of cyber fraud that led to digital arrest. Scammers posed as an IPS officer and other law enforcement officials and duped Rs 3.8 crore. This is one of the longest digital arrests in recent history. The woman was under digital arrest for a month in a fake money laundering case and threatened with arrest. The complainant is a homemaker who lives with her retired husband in South Mumbai. This is how a single call has changed everything in her life and leds to digital arrest.
How The Cyber Fraud Happened?
One day, a woman received a WhatsApp call, when a caller claimed that the parcel she had sent to Taiwan was halted. The caller claimed that five passports, a bank card, 4 kg of clothes, and MDMA drugs had been seized. A woman was unaware of the cyber fraud. A single WhatsApp call from an unknown number was just the beginning of cyber fraud. The fraudsters sent the woman a fake notice from the crime branch to prove their authenticity, said the Mumbai Crime Branch.
When a woman said that she had not sent any parcel to anyone, the fraudster said her Aadhar Card details had been used and she needed to speak to a Mumbai Police officer. The fraudster immediately transferred the call to the fake police officer who backed the claim that the Aadhaar card was linked to the money laundering case and is now under investigation. Later, the woman was asked to download the Skype app to speak to the police officer and should not disconnect the call or tell anyone else in this case.
A Month Long Digital Arrest
A man who introduced himself as an IPS officer, Anand Rana, joined the call and asked for her bank account details. Another man, claiming to be George Matthew, an IPS from a finance department, jumped on the call and asked the woman to transfer money to the shared bank account details as part of the office investigation.
The scammer, pretending to be a police officer, assured her that the money would be returned if she was found innocent. The woman was asked to keep the video call ON for 24 hours. At first, she transferred Rs 15 Lakh. If the video call got cut for whatever reason, the scammers called her again and threatened her to turn on the video. This continued for a month, and a woman lost Rs 4 crore.
Woman Got Suspicious, But It Was Too Late
When the money wasn’t returned, the woman became suspicious. She shared all the details with her daughter, who then asked her mother to complain. The matter came before the officials, and this case of cyber fraud is now under investigation.
We want to tell all our readers, not to get trapped in such circumstances of digital arrest. If you find the number suspicious, it is better to not pick it up. If you pick it up and find someone claiming that your Aadhar Card is used in money laundering, or your all bank account will be frozen, press 9 to continue the verification, do not do that. The banks, RBI, UPI, and even the Government remind everyone not to get trapped in such scams.
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