Dubai-based entrepreneur put under ‘digital arrest’ for hours at Bhopal home — till real cops knocked on his door

Deshmukh said the accused posed as officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Mumbai Cyber Crime Branch, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), informing him that many fraudulent bank accounts had been opened using his Aadhaar card.

The accused first coerced him to download the Skype app, after which he was subjected to hours of questioning in a bid to gather sensitive, personal and banking information.

While the rescued entrepreneur’s interrogation was on, the cyber cell team turned up at his residence and asked the scammers to show proof of identity and the accused abruptly cut the video call, police said.

“Had the police not reached quickly, I would have transferred crores of rupees to the fraudsters,” he said.

In a digital arrest scam, fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials to deceive their victims.

Prime Minister Modi had also issued a warning to the public regarding the scam, urging them to report any such incident to the cyber helpline.

The case of this Bhopal resident also caught the attention of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav who has now ordered the formation of cyber help desks at all police stations across the state, besides running awareness campaigns against such crimes.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday narrated details of the police operation. “This is perhaps the first such live rescue operation carried out by the Madhya Pradesh Police in a case relating to the digital arrest of a person by cyber fraudsters,” he said.