Vadodara woman duped of Rs 60 lakh in ‘digital arrest’ fraud

The FIR lodged at the Cyber Crime police station on Thursday states that the complainant received a call from an unknown mobile number on October 22 with the caller claiming to be an official of the Andheri police station in Mumbai.

The complainant said that the caller allegedly informed her that her SBI bank account had been used for money laundering to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore and an accused arrested in the alleged fraud, identified as Ravishankar, had named her during the investigation.

“Thereafter, at around 2.55 pm, I received a Whatsapp message from another mobile number and received a video call from the same number. The man identified himself as an ED officer and asked me about money laundering and the bank account said to be involved in it. He asked me for evidence (of innocence). They told me I would have to continue to message them, ‘Everything is ok’ every hour until the next morning.” The complainant has said that the following day, on October 23, another man posed as a “Prosecutor Assistant Director” by the name of “Neeraj Kumar” and continued the so-called “investigation”. She was asked to sign a “confidentiality agreement” after pursuing her to transfer Rs 1.8 lakh through RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement).

The woman also stated in her complaint that the accused sought details of her bank accounts, fixed deposits and pension account, including documentary statements to verify her claim.

On October 24, the accused had the woman transfer Rs 5.55 lakh and then Rs 26 lakh by RTGS, police were told. On October 25, the complainant allegedly transferred Rs 27 lakh to the accused, totalling to a cyber fraud of Rs 60.35 lakh. “The person had promised that the money would be returned to me after penalties to finish off the case against me for money laundering… However, when the money was not returned until now, I have realised that the accused have committed fraud and cheating by electronic means,” the complainant said.

In her complaint, the woman said that she had lost her husband during the pandemic in 2020 and her son, working as an IT professional, lives in Mumbai. Inspector BN Patel of Vadodara cyber police station said that an investigation has been initiated into the complaint of the woman.