Digital arrest: Hyderabad woman loses Rs 44 lakh to fraudsters

Hyderabad: A 36-year-old woman in Hyderabad was defrauded of Rs 44 lakh by cybercriminals after they put her under “digital arrest”. After realizing that she had been scammed, the victim registered a complaint with the cybercrime police department on their national helpline number 1930.

Explaining how she fell prey to cybercriminals, the victim, who is a private employee, said she first received an automated message purportedly from TRAI informing her that her phone number would be blocked within two hours and that she could contact the given number for further information.

Visibly confused by the message from ‘TRAI’, the female private employee dialled the number to find out why her number would be blocked. She was shocked when the person on the other end of the line informed her that she had an FIR against her name at Andheri police station in Mumbai. The person on the phone also told the victim that her phone was used for illegal advertising and sending harassment messages to others. They also shared the fake FIR details with her. They forwarded her call to Andheri police station, adding that she could get a clarification letter from the police and present this to the Telecom authorities to avoid blocking her number.

The victim’s ordeal did not end there. The investigation officer (the impostor) asked for her Aadhar number to carry out a background check before proceeding further on the matter. The fake officer then told her that she was involved in Naresh Goyal’s money laundering case. They said her ATM card was found when the officials conducted a raid at Naresh’s residence, and a fraudulent transaction of Rs 6.8 crore was conducted from her account.

In an attempt to convince the woman, the fraudsters shared some documents claiming to be from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Supreme Court of India. They again offered to help her get a clean chit provided she transferred all her funds through a link on a fake website of the apex court, which would divert the money to the RBI’s account. They asserted that they are doing this to prepare evidence to present before the Supreme Court and prove her innocence in the case. The fake police officers kept her under ‘surveillance,’ saying they were dealing with a highly sensitive case and she would run the risk of getting arrested if she revealed the case to others.

The victim followed the instructions of the fake cops and transferred Rs. 43.40 lakh to the bank accounts they shared. Subsequently, she received a fake acknowledgment letter from the RBI stating that transactions on her account were being verified and that her money would be returned to her account after the processing. Later, she was released from the ‘police surveillance’ but did not receive her money back. She then tried calling them on the same numbers, but the fraudsters were not reachable.