Retired college professor cheated of Rs 75 lakh in ‘digital capture’ fraud

Transactions worth Rs 13 lakh were blocked due to police intervention. (Representative)

Aligarh:

A retired professor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was allegedly duped of over Rs 75 lakhs by fraudsters posing as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and placed her under ‘digital arrest’ for 10 days, police said on Sunday.

Qamar Jahan filed an FIR on Friday and the police immediately issued a notice to the concerned banks. Police discovered the money had been funneled through 21 different bank accounts, they said.

Transactions worth Rs 13 lakh were blocked due to police intervention, they said.

Cyber ​​Police Station Inspector VD Panday, who is investigating the case, told PTI that the victim was kept “under digital arrest for more than ten days” during which the suspect pressured Jahan to pay money to avoid arrest.

‘Digital arrest’ is a new cyber fraud, where the suspect poses as officials of law enforcement agencies, such as CBI or Customs officers or ED, and threatens people with arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international parcels containing banned drugs or by money laundering fallen.

The complainant told the police that she first received a call on September 28. The suspect introduced an officer of the Enforcement Directorate and told her that she had carried out a number of dubious transactions involving her in a money laundering case.

To avoid arrest, Jahan must deposit some money with the court, the suspect told the victim. He gave her some bank account numbers and the victim complied and deposited more than Rs 75 lakh.

However, two days ago she felt that she had been cheated and filed a report at the police station.

Several cases of digital capture have been reported in the state in recent weeks. Police have advised the public that there is no option for digital arrest.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)