A case has come to light in Mumbai where a 77-year-old woman was digitally arrested several times in a month and defrauded to the tune of Rs 3.8 crore. On the basis of the woman’s complaint, the police have registered a case and started investigation.
Police started investigation
A 77-year-old woman from Mumbai was digitally arrested by cyber criminals posing as an IPS officer and a law enforcement officer and then extorted money. A fraud of Rs 3.8 crore was committed. According to the information, the woman was put under digital arrest by cyber criminals in a fake money laundering case and was cheated several times over the course of a month. The police have registered a complaint and started investigating the entire matter.
there was a whatsapp call
Police said the complainant is a housewife, who lives with her retired husband in South Mumbai. One day the woman received a WhatsApp call. It said that the parcel he had sent to Taiwan has been stopped. The caller said that five passports, one bank card, 4 kg of clothes and MDMA drugs were seized from the parcel. After this, to make the woman believe, the cyber criminals also sent her a fake notice bearing the stamp of the crime branch. However, when the woman said that she had not sent any parcel to anyone, the caller said that her Aadhaar card details were used in the alleged crime. For which he will have to talk to Mumbai Police officer.
Identification provided by IPS officer
A man introducing himself as IPS officer Anand Rana joined the call and asked for information about the woman’s bank account. After this, another person joined the call, who introduced himself as an officer of the Finance Department. He also asked the woman to transfer money to a shared bank account. Apart from this, he told the woman that if she was found innocent then the money would be returned. Meanwhile, the woman was asked to continue the video call for 24 hours. Cyber criminals first tricked the woman into transferring Rs 15 lakh. However, for some reason the video call got cut off. After this the cyber miscreants called the woman again. This sequence continued for about a month and the miscreants cheated Rs 3.8 crore from the woman.
You are called and pretended to be arrested
In cyber fraud, the criminal can also pretend to arrest the victim. He adopts tactics like setting up fake police stations or government offices and wearing government uniform. The first case of digital arrest was reported in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center and the Department of Telecommunications are working together to stop fake calls from abroad. Infographics and videos are also being posted on social media platforms CyberDost and X, Facebook, Instagram etc. to raise awareness.
Know how to avoid such scams
Report any such call or message immediately. Government has launched Chakshu portal in Sanchar Sathi website to prevent cyber and online fraud. This information can also be given on cyber crime helpline 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in. Money is demanded in exchange for hushing up the matter. Victims are forced to remain connected through audio or video conferencing until the demand is met.
What is digital arrest?
As cases of online fraud have increased, cases of digital arrests have also increased. Cyber fraudsters make you fear arrest. In this they imprison you in the house. In such a situation, during the video call, the fraudster makes his background like a police station, seeing which the victim gets scared and influenced by his words, the fraudster starts cheating you by asking for bail. The fraudster does not allow the victim to leave a video call or contact anyone. The victim is arrested from his own home, the victim is intimidated by saying that his Aadhaar card, SIM card, bank account has been used for some illegal work. After all this happens, the ‘game’ of scaring you starts.
Keep these things in mind
Cyber scammers can cheat anyone. To avoid this, take care of the security of yourself and your data.
1-Avoid clicking on links coming from any unknown source.
2-Avoid giving your personal or bank details on any unknown phone call.
3-Keep strong passwords on personal data and any type of transaction platforms.
4-Do not download any third party apps, do not install anything from any non-official platform.
5-Keep your device updated, keep all your apps updated.
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