A 67-year-old Mumbai woman was placed under a digital arrest by online scammers who forced her to pay INR 14 lakh in exchange for clearing her record in a non-existent money laundering case, according to police. The victim lives in Mumbai's Kandivali West area with her sister-in-law.
According to cyber-security agency CERT-In's report, a digital arrest occurs when victims receive a phone call, e-mail, or message indicating they are being investigated for unlawful crimes like identity theft or money laundering.
The scammer threatens the individual being targeted with arrest or legal ramifications if he does not take immediate action. They frequently generate a state of terror in order to impede reasonable thought. Individuals are coerced into transferring significant quantities of money to designated bank accounts or UPI IDs under the premise of "clearing their name", "assisting with the investigation" or "refundable security deposit/escrow account", according to the recent advisory report by the cyber-security agency CERT-In.
Speaking about the case involving the elderly woman, a police official on October 28 said that the accused posed as Delhi Telecom Department and Cyber Crime Branch personnel. They put her under digital arrest after accusing her of involvement in a high-profile money laundering case. The crime occurred between September 1 and 5.
The official further said that the culprit then convinced her to speak with his accomplice, who pretended to be cyber crime branch officer Rakesh Kumar.
The victim became terrified after Kumar and a woman accused, who introduced themselves as Shobha Sharma, showed her three false Delhi police papers and informed her that she may face three to five years in prison. Sharma then asked the victim about her bank accounts, mutual funds, fixed deposits, and also requested her to go to the bank and deposit all of her investments in the bank account that she supplied, he added.
According to Shobha Sharma's directions, the victim went to the bank, broke fixed deposits, mutual funds, and savings, and deposited INR 14 lakh via RTGS into the provided account. The caller offered to reimburse the money after it had been verified. After consulting with her son, the woman realised she had been duped and approached the police, the official added.
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