81-year-old loses over 7 crore to ‘digital arrest’ scam in Hyderabad | India News

HYDERABAD: After noticing TOI articles on digital arrest cases in Hyderabad, an 81-year-old retired businessman reported being scammed of over Rs 7 crore using the same modus operandi. Posing as Mumbai Police officers, the cyber fraudsters threatened to arrest him in a bogus drug-trafficking and fake passports case and extorted the money.According to a complaint filed by the octagenarian with Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) on January 2, his ordeal began on October 27 last year when he received a WhatsApp call from a person claiming to be Sunil Sharma from Blue Dart customer care. Sharma told the victim that a parcel sent in his name from Mumbai to Bangkok contained a laptop, five passports and 200 gram MDMA, a narcotic drug. Minutes later, another caller, posing as a Mumbai crime branch officer, said that based on the evidence, the victim faced charges of extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism.Placing the victim under ‘digital arrest’, the impostors warned him against revealing case details to his family or contacting bankers or lawyers, and ordered him to provide full disclosure of his investments. Under sustained intimidation, the businessman transferred Rs 19.8 lakh on October 29 to a City Union Bank account. Further, he installed the Signal app to communicate with them. Between November 6 and December 5, he executed five more RTGS transfers to different bank accounts, bringing the total loss to over Rs 7.12 crore.On December 29, the fraudsters sought an additional Rs 1.2 cr to close the case file against him. Growing suspicious, the victim lodged a complaint on December 31.