Senior citizen loses Rs10.7cr to digital arrest fraud

Pune: An 82-year-old man from Bhandarkar Road lost Rs10.75 crore to a digital arrest fraud between Jan 23 and 31.The victim, hailing from north India and settled in Pune about 15 years ago, lost all his savings and fixed deposits (FDs) generated from his retirement benefits, as well as the remittance sent by his two sons settled in the USA. "He stays alone in his Bhandarkar Road residence, while his daughter stays in her marital home in Pune," inspector Sangeeta Deokate of the Pune Cyber police said on Tuesday.
The officer cited the FIR and said, "The crooks posing as TRAI, CBI and judicial officials told the victim that he was placed under digital arrest because his Aadhaar card was misused in money laundering and other illegal transactions, and they needed to produce him online before a court for an inquiry proceeding. The impostors even offered the victim ‘legal assistance by way of a public prosecutor' to present his case online and kept him under pressure against disclosing the inquiry proceedings to anyone until the process was over.The senior citizen told the police in his complaint that he bought a SIM card on Jan 18 from a cellular company outlet. The company's representatives told him that he would receive a verification call from their officials before the SIM was activated. He did receive such a verification phone call and his SIM was activated.Deokate said on Jan 23 the victim received another call from an unknown number. As his SIM was new, he responded to it. The person at the other end claimed to be an officer from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The caller told the victim that his Aadhaar card was found to be involved in a money laundering case involving the former owner and director of an airline company arrested by the ED.The caller claimed that the elderly man's Aadhaar card was used to transfer money to 24 different bank accounts and that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was investigating these money transfers. The bogus TRAI officer then transferred the call to a fake CBI officer, who told the victim to remain on the video call through a social messaging application. The victim followed the instruction. The ‘CBI officer' then allegedly threatened to arrest him and claimed that he would face imprisonment of seven to nine years. The bogus officer then took details of his bank accounts, his Aadhaar card, PAN card and others for "verification". Under pressure, the victim divulged the details of his bank accounts.Deokate said, "The crook impersonating a CBI officer then promised to get a speedy online inquiry done before a judge and told the victim to answer his video call on Jan 24. The suspects then ‘produced' the victim before a bogus judge, who claimed to be presiding over the ED case, and ordered the complainant not to disclose the proceeding to anyone, including his family members. The judge also threatened to book and arrest his family members. The victim followed the order," the police said."The fake judge conducting the online inquiry then offered legal aid in the form of a lawyer to defend his case. The judge took all the details of the victim's bank accounts and told him to transfer all his savings and money in the FDs to seven different bank accounts to close the case," Deokate said.After the victim transferred Rs10.75 crore to seven different accounts, the judge told him that he was free to go. The victim then called his daughter, who understood the fraud, and the former approached the Pune Cyber Police with a complaint. "On Monday, we registered a case of cheating based on his complaint," Deokate added.