A 65-year-old woman from Manjalpur area of Vadodara has filed a complaint against unknown persons at the cyber crime police station, alleging that she was a victim of the ‘digital arrest’ scam.
After keeping him under “digital arrest” for more than three days, according to the complaint, cyber fraudsters, posing as a team of officials from the Mumbai Police, Enforcement Directorate and other investigative departments, looted Rs 6 million from his bank account.
An FIR registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station on Thursday states that the complainant received a call from an unknown mobile number on October 22 in which the caller claimed to be an officer of the Andheri police station in Mumbai.
The complainant said that the caller had allegedly said that her SBI bank account was used for money laundering of Rs 1,000 crore and that an accused identified as Ravi Shankar, who was arrested in the alleged fraud, had named her during the investigation.
“Then at 2.55 pm a WhatsApp message came from another mobile number and also a video call from the same number. The person identified himself as an ED officer and asked me about money laundering and said the bank account was involved. He asked me for proof (of innocence). They told me to continue texting ‘everything is fine’ every hour until the next morning. The next day, on October 23, another person named Neeraj Kumar presented himself as the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions and continued the so-called ‘investigation’, the complainant said. Following the transfer of Rs 1.8 lakh through RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), he was asked to sign a “Confidentiality Agreement”.
The woman said in the complaint that the accused also asked for a documentary statement along with the details of her bank account, fixed deposit and pension account to confirm her claim.
On October 24, the accused transferred 5.55 lakh and then 2.6 lakh through RTGS to the woman, police said. On October 25, the complainant allegedly committed a cyber fraud of Rs 60.35 lakh totaling Rs. 2.7 lakh to the accused. ‘In order to settle the case of money laundering against me, the person had promised to return the money by paying a fine, but since the money has not been returned yet, I understand that the accused has cheated and cheated through electronic means. mean,” the complainant said.
In her complaint, the woman said she lost her husband during the pandemic in 2020 and her son, working as an IT professional, lives in Mumbai. Vadodara cyber police station inspector BN Patel said an investigation has been initiated on the woman’s complaint.