Digital arrest: Cyber fraudster arrested for duping IIT student of Rs 4.3 lakh
The accused was earlier arrested by the Rajasthan Police in a NDPS case, said police.
3 min read
ByBit said on Friday an attacker gained control of an ether wallet. (Image: Pixabay)A 29-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly duping a fourth-year student of IIT Delhi of Rs 4.33 lakh by placing him under digital arrest.
The police identified the accused as Madan Lal (29), a resident of Lohawat in Rajasthan, who was arrested from Chennai last month. A Class 10 dropout, the police said Lal used to purchase bank accounts details of victims and withdraw money through their debit cards. He then bought USDTs – a cryptocurrency – and sold the same at higher prices.
“The accused used to purchase USDTs and was in touch with a Chinese national to whom he sold the same at a higher price,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Surendra Choudhary said.
He added that on November 16, 2024, the IIT student received a call from someone claiming to be from a courier service. The caller allegedly falsely informed him that a suspicious parcel in his name was being shipped from Mumbai to Beijing. When the student denied any knowledge of the parcel, the caller advised him to report the issue to the police and transferred the call to an alleged officer at Gamdevi police station in Mumbai, he added.
The caller, impersonating impersonating police and Enforcement Directorate officials, allegedly falsely accused the victim of being linked to illegal cases and stated that an arrest warrant had been issued in his name.
On November 18, the alleged frauds called again and claimed that another illegal parcel has arrived in his name. They managed to coerce the victim into transferring Rs 4.33 lakh to prove his innocence through online transactions, police said.
When the victim realised that he had been deceived, he filed a police complaint and an FIR was registered, said the DCP.
During the probe, the police discovered that a foreign number from Hong Kong had been used to contact the complainant and that a portion of the defrauded money was transferred to a bank account linked to one Tejpal Sharma from Rai Singh Nagar in Rajasthan.
The DCP said that when questioned, Sharma claimed that he gave his ATM card to his friend, Gagandeep Singh, who had then changed the account’s registered mobile number. When tracked down, Gagandeep told the police that he had provided the account to his associate Bajrang.
Following this, surveillance revealed that withdrawals were made from an ATM in Lohawat. “Based on technical surveillance, Madan Lal was traced to Chennai,” said the DCP.
During interrogation, Lal admitted to receiving the bank account details from Bajrang for Rs 20,000, withdrawing fraudulent funds, and exchanging the money for cryptocurrency through a contact named Ravi Chaudhary, said police. “Madan later sold USDTs to a Chinese woman via WhatsApp, receiving payment in rupees,” said an officer.
The accused was earlier arrested by the Rajasthan Police in a NDPS case, said police.
You May Like
