Digital arrest scam: Bengaluru techie loses ₹11.8 crore; govt blocks 1,700 Skype IDs used by fraudsters

The latest victim is a Bengaluru-based techie, who lost ₹11.8 crore after fraudsters impersonating police officials kept him under digital arrest claiming his Aadhaar card was being misused to open bank accounts for money laundering, police said on Monday (December 23).

The fraud involving the 39-year-old software engineer happened between November 25 and December 12.

Also read: Digital arrest: Mumbai woman forced to strip, duped of Rs 1.7 lakh 

The modus operandi

According to the police, in his complaint, the victim alleged that on November 11, he received a call from a person who claimed to be a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officer. Initially, they told him that his SIM card linked to his Aadhaar card was used for illegal advertisements and harassing messages and a case has been registered in Mumbai's Colaba Cyber Police Station.

This was followed by a call from a person claiming to be a police officer alleging that his Aadhaar details were being misused to open bank accounts for money laundering, the FIR stated.

The cyber criminals then warned him to remain quiet about the matter and also allegedly threatened him that if he did not cooperate with the virtual investigation, he would be physically arrested. According to the FIR, he also got a call from a person asking him to download the Skype app after which a man allegedly dressed in Mumbai police uniform video-called him and claimed that a businessman had opened a bank account using his Aadhaar to conduct transactions worth ₹6 crore.

On November 25, another man dressed up in police uniform called him over Skype and alleged that his case was being heard in the top court and threatened to arrest his family if he did not comply. Further, citing fake Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, the fraudsters allegedly asked him to transfer funds to certain accounts for "verification purposes" or face legal consequences.

The FIR stated that the victim fearing arrest transferred a total sum of ₹ 11.8 crore in multiple transactions to various bank accounts over a period of time. However, when they started demanding for more money, the victim realised something was amiss and realised he had fallen prey to fraudsters. And, lodged a complaint with the police.

Police said a case has been registered under the IT Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating and cheating by impersonation. Further investigation is underway.

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Govt efforts to curb digital arrest scam

The ministry of home affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cybercrimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, according to a government press release.

So far, a financial amount of more than ₹3,431 crore has been saved in more than 9.94 lakh complaints through freezing the bank accounts to which victims had sent their money.

14C proactively identify and blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 Whatsapp accounts used for digital arrest, added the release.

Also read: How to recognise 'digital arrest' scam? Here's a guide to counter online frauds

Further, the central government has published an alert against incidents of ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Digital Arrest’ by cybercCriminals Impersonating state/UT Police, NCB, CBI, RBI and other law enforcement egencies.

A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalised to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. According to the cyber security agency, never transfer money under pressure and stressed that people should not transfer money under pressure as legitimate law-enforcement agencies "will never pressure you into sending money immediately".