A 60-year-old businessman from south Mumbai spent an entire night under what police described as a ‘digital arrest’, after cyber fraudsters posing as senior law enforcement officials allegedly extorted Rs 53 lakh from him, police said on Tuesday, reported the PTI.
According to investigators, the fraudsters accused the victim, a resident of Agripada, of involvement in a money laundering case, forcing him to remain on a video call overnight under the pretext of an impending “online bail hearing”.
They even sent him a fake notice bearing the Supreme Court’s letterhead.
The so-called “digital arrest” is an emerging form of cybercrime in which scammers impersonate police or government officials and intimidate victims via audio or video calls, keeping them under psychological confinement until they transfer money.
Police said the incident began on 2 November, when the businessman received a call from a man identifying himself as Rajiv Sinha, an officer from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The caller claimed a SIM card registered in the victim’s name had been misused in fraudulent activities and demanded he appear before Delhi Police within two hours.
When the businessman said he could not travel to Delhi, he was soon contacted via video call by another man claiming to be Vijay Khanna, a Delhi Police officer. Khanna informed him that his Aadhaar card had been used to open a bank account in Daryaganj, Delhi, linked to a money laundering probe.
The victim was subsequently connected to several others posing as senior officials from the Anti-Corruption Branch, Inspection Department, and Directorate of Enforcement, who displayed fake official notices on video. The victim was interrogated through the night about his finances and property, and told he was under arrest until his supposed bail hearing the next morning.
During the staged “online hearing”, the fraudsters pretended to be court officials and told the victim that his bail had been denied. They then ordered him to transfer his funds to a ‘nationalised bank account’, allegedly to protect them during the investigation. The victim complied, transferring Rs 53 lakh.
Later, when the scammers demanded further payment, the businessman grew suspicious. Under the guise of going to the toilet, he escaped from the room and called the national cybercrime helpline (1930).
He subsequently filed a complaint at the Central Region Cyber Police Station, where a case has been registered and an investigation is underway. Police are tracing the accounts used in the fraud and have issued warnings against such “digital arrest” scams, which are increasingly being reported across India.
(with PTI inputs)
