MUMBAI: In the latest ‘digital arrest’ fraud, a 67-year-old was duped of ₹74.24 lakh by fraudsters who pretended to be police officers and accused him of being involved with jailed gangster Abu Salem Abdul Qayyum Ansari, convicted in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case.
According to the East Region Cyber police, the fraudsters extorted money from the senior citizen, claiming that Salem had transferred large sums of money to a bank account opened in his name and threatening to arrest him if he didn’t pay up.
The police said that the victim, a 67-year-old retired lab technician with the public health department, who stays in Mulund East with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, got a call on September 23 from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be a certain police sub-inspector Sandeep Rao from the Panchavati police station in Nashik. The fraud even sent pictures of his fake identity card to the complainant on WhatsApp, to assure him that he was a ‘genuine’ police officer.
A police officer said, “The fake cop told the complainant that there were several complaints against him for spreading terror in the region and that a bank account opened in his name with a nationalised bank had received money transfers from gangster Abu Salem, as a 10% commission for his actions.”
The fake cop told the complainant, “You are part of an organisation which acts against the interest of the country,” and even sent him pictures of fake ATM cards and bank statements showing that he had received money from Ansari, once associated with the Dawood Ibrahim gang.
In the name of an ‘investigation’, the senior citizen was placed under a ‘digital arrest’ and forced to remain in isolation for a fortnight–from September 23 to October 7, said the police. The frauds kept video-calling him to make sure he didn’t step out of his house. They made sure he didn’t even inform his family about the ordeal, the police added.
The police said, “The frauds continued to intimidate him by showing him photographs of the Mumbai police’s ten most wanted criminals, as well as fake orders issued by the Supreme Court to arrest him.”
During virtual interrogations, the fraudsters made the complainant reveal his banking and investment details and instructed him to transfer his money to an account provided by them. They assured him that if he was proven innocent, the money would be returned to his bank account by October 13. Intimidated and afraid, the complainant transferred all of his savings and investments, amounting to over ₹74 lakh, to the frauds, the police said.
When the money didn’t return to his bank accounts on October 13, the complainant tried to contact the fraudsters and soon realised that he had been cheated. He then finally filed a police complaint through the Cyber helpline.
“We have registered the offence against unknown persons under sections 204 (personating a public servant), 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation), 336 (forgery) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act,” said the police officer.