A case of cheating of Rs 49 lakh by keeping a retired colonel of Hamirpur district and his wife under digital arrest for 16 days has come to light. On receiving the complaint, a case of cheating has been registered in Cyber Crime Police Station Mandi. The couple was threatened to sell Aadhaar cards and money laundering of Rs 2 crore in bank accounts. A fraudster introduced himself as an officer of Mumbai Crime Branch through WhatsApp video call and also threatened to investigate bank accounts.
The husband and wife kept working on the orders of the fraudster for 16 days. More accused are involved in the fraud. The fraudster made the first call on March 23. They remained on video call for 11 hours a day under the surveillance of the fraudster. They were also kept on video call while doing RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) of the amount in the account given by the accused. The accused told the complainant that he has four SIM cards on his Aadhaar card. He has a bank account in Mumbai in his name, in which money laundering of Rs 2 crore has taken place. After this, citing investigation of the fund, he demanded money. The complainant RTGS 9 lakh on March 29 and 40 lakh on April 4.
Till April 7, the fraudsters kept the husband and wife on digital arrest and kept demanding more money. When they realized that they had been cheated, they lodged a complaint at Cyber Crime Police Station Mandi on April 10. After receiving the complaint in this case, Rs 5.58 lakh was frozen in various suspicious accounts. The accused have further transferred the cheated amount to 22 accounts.
Cyber criminals are now cheating people in a modern way in the name of digital arrest. In Himachal, in the last six months, people have been cheated of about Rs 2.26 crore in 7 cases of digital arrest.
An amount of Rs 5.58 lakh has been frozen in the case. There is no provision for digital arrest in the law. In such a situation, do not lose your life’s savings by falling into the trap of fraudsters. If you get any such call or message, contact the toll-free number 1930.