A 39-year-old software engineer from GKVK Layout, near Hebbal, was duped of ₹11.8 crore in a sophisticated “digital arrest” scam by fraudsters pretending as police officials. The scam happened between November 25 and December 12. A case has been registered by the North-East Cybercrime, Economic Offences, and Narcotics (CEN) Police.
As per the complaint, the scam began on November 11 when the victim got a call from someone posing as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officer. The caller falsely claimed that his SIM card, which was connected to his Aadhaar card, was being used for harassment and unlawful advertising. The scammer also mentioned that the matter had been reported to Mumbai’s Colaba Cyber Police Station.
He then received a call from someone claiming to be a police officer, who informed him that his Aadhaar card information was being used by some individuals to open bank accounts in order to launder money. He was threatened with physical arrest if he did not comply and warned not to tell anyone about this.
The scammers ‘con artists’ used Skype to arrange a video call in order to support their allegations. The victim was informed by the man in the Mumbai Police uniform that ₹6 crore worth of transactions had been made using his Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The con artist further asserted that the Supreme Court was looking into the victim’s case and threatened to arrest his family if he didn’t comply.
The scammers asked the victim to transfer funds to a series of bank accounts under the guise of the RBI verification process. The man made several transactions totaling ₹11.8 crore over a few days out of fear of being arrested.
On December 12, the victim realized he had been duped and went to the police when the scammers began requesting more money.
The FIR under the Information Technology Act and sections 318 cheating and 319 cheating by impersonation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered, and further probing into the case is currently being done by the police.
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