Bengaluru techie falls prey to digital arrest; loses Rs 11 crore

Bengaluru, Dec 23 An incident of a software professional losing Rs 11 crore after falling victim to digital arrest has been reported from Bengaluru on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, the cyber fraudsters disguised themselves as police officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and committed the crime through digital arrest.

The victim is identified as 39-year-old Vijaykumar, who working with a reputed IT company in Bengaluru.

The case has been registered in this regard with the North East Cybercrime, Economic Offences, Narcotics (CEN) police station in Bengaluru.

The victim was told that a case was registered under his name in Mumbai's Colaba police station and they found that a cash transfer was made using his Aadhaar number.

The fraudsters claimed that it was a case involving cheating of Rs 6 crore and his Aadhaar card was misused to open bank accounts for money laundering.

The accused also claimed that the case is currently being looked into by the Supreme Court.

Police said that the cybercriminals had done their homework and collected information that the victim had invested in the share market for many years.

The accused had told him to sell his shares threatening arrest.

In a phased manner the accused had extorted Rs 11.83 crore to their accounts.

The accused, after succeeding in threatening the victim of dire consequences, kept him engaged over phone calls for more than a month by threatening in one or the other manner.

In this period of digital arrest, the accused had suggested to the techie that he should leave his residence and hide in a different place to avoid the arrest.

As per the accused's instructions, the victim had stayed in a lodge in Yelahanka locality of Bengaluru, police said.

The accused who initially claimed as cops posted with the Mumbai crime branch later went on to threaten and blackmail the victim and also identified themselves as officers from the Income Tax and the Enforcement Directorate departments to extort the money.

Even after transferring a huge sum, the accused still demanded more money and the victim realised and approached the police.

Digital arrest is a type of online fraud where scammers impersonate law enforcement or government officials to falsely claim the authority to arrest someone digitally.

The scammers may contact the victim over the phone or online, and force them to stay on a video call until their demands are met.

The scammers may extort money in exchange for agreeing not to expose the false legal cases they have constructed.