Retd govt employees fall for digital arrest scam, lose Rs 49L in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Two retired govt employees approached the Hyderabad cybercrime police, alleging that fraudsters posing as law enforcement officers extorted Rs 49.5 lakh by threatening to arrest them in money laundering cases. Two separate cases were registered based on their complaints.

In the first case, a 78-year-old retired officer of Singareni Collieries from Ram Nagar received a call on September 2 from a fraudster claiming to be from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Secunderabad. The call was successively patched to impostors posing as Bengaluru police, the CBI, and the Enforcement Directorate, who alleged that the victim’s Aadhaar was used to procure a SIM card linked to Sadakhat Khan, who is an accused in several human trafficking cases. During video calls, the impostors showed a forged Supreme Court warrant and ordered the victim not to discuss the investigation with anyone for national security reasons.

Due to continuous intimidation, the septuagenarian liquidated fixed deposits, mortgaged gold, and, between Sept 3 and 9, transferred Rs 48 lakh in two transactions to different bank accounts provided by the accused. As the accused did not refund the amount as promised, the victim approached the Hyderabad cybercrime police station on Tuesday.

In the second case, a 61-year-old retired govt employee from Chandrayangutta received a call on Sept 16 from a fraudster posing as Vijay Kharge, an officer of the Mumbai cybercrime team. Alleging that Rs 3 crore was laundered through a Canara Bank account opened in his name by a human trafficking racket, fraudsters threatened to arrest the victim unless he paid necessary court fees for verification of the money in his bank accounts. Between Sept 17 and 18, the victim transferred 1.53 lakh to different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters after receiving an ‘immunity certificate’ from them. As the fraudsters stopped all communication following the money transfers, the victim approached police on Tuesday.

Hyderabad cybercrime police registered two separate cases under relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Act. Police are analysing the bank transaction details to identify and arrest the accused.