A 77-year-old woman suffered cyber fraud in Mumbai. In this incident, the scammers kept the woman under digital arrest for about a month. During this period, he was monitored through video call 24 hours a day and on several occasions the woman transferred Rs 3.8 million to his account. Feeling upset, the female victim informed her daughter about the matter. After this, a complaint was lodged with the National Cyber Crime Helpline. Following this, the police confiscated six bank accounts of the fraudsters and began investigating the case. According to the police, the story of the incident is not only shocking but also terrifying. Both of the victim’s children are abroad.
The woman lives at home with her husband. A few days ago this woman received a WhatsApp call. The caller introduced himself as a CBI official. He said the package he had sent to Taiwan was stopped at the airport itself. In addition to drugs, many passports and other sensitive objects were found in this package. When the victim said that he had not sent any parcel, the fraudsters said that it had been registered with his own Aadhar card and that he was involved in a money laundering case.
Digital arrest held for 30 days
After this, the accused got the woman to talk to another scammer. This scammer introduced himself as Emergency Officer George Mathew. He made the woman download Skype under threat of arrest and supervised her by keeping her on continuous video calls for 30 days. During this time, the accused demanded Rs 3.8 million from the woman several times into her account. He assured that if he is found innocent during the investigation, they will return the money. To gain the victim’s trust, the accused also sent him a fake notice from Crime Branch Mumbai on WhatsApp itself.
Six bank accounts seized
The victim alleges that when she tried to stop the video call, the accused intimidated her and asked him to come immediately to arrest her. Finally, after getting angry, the victim narrated the entire incident to her daughter. Following this, her daughter informed the police and lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Helpline. Subsequently, six bank accounts of the accused have been sealed. According to police, efforts are on to identify and arrest fraudsters through these bank accounts.
