Retired government official duped of Rs 60 Lakh in digital scam |

Ghaziabad: Cybercriminals are said to have cheated retired government official of Rs 60 lakh by posing as police officials. The fraudsters allegedly posed as police officers and claimed that the 65-year-old man had been subjected to a ‘digital arrest‘.
Complainant Preetam Singh, a resident of Vasundhara, told police that he received a call from an unknown number on his WhatsApp on October 10. The caller identified himself as a senior police officer in the Delhi Police.
The scammer told Singh that a bank account registered under his name was found to be involved in a human trafficking ring where 17 children were sold to an unknown person for Rs 68 crore and 10% of the money involved in the crime was traced to the said account.
The conman convinced Singh that a case had been registered against him by the CBI and that they would arrest him.
“To get the priority investigation and get clarity on the matter, I had to transfer money to their bank account, which would later be released after a legal inquiry,” Singh said.
The suspect later switched Singh to a video call and claimed to have placed him under ‘digital arrest’. The calls continued from October 10 to October 16. Between this period, Singh transferred a total of Rs 60 lakh to the fraudsters. Despite this, the scammers demanded another Rs 50 lakh on October 16.
“They also sent a fake Supreme Court notice against me. I contacted one of my acquaintances, a lawyer, who told me that I had fallen into a trap as the notice was fake,” Singh said.
After speaking to his lawyer friend and realizing that he had been duped, Singh decided to approach the police. An FIR under sections 204 (in person of public servant) and 318 (4) (cheating and dishonesty) of the BNS and relevant sections of the IT Act was registered at the cyber police station on Saturday.
“We have asked the concerned bank officials to seize the accounts into which the victim transferred the money. We are also recording the details of the account holders and efforts are on to nab the suspect,” said ADCP (Cyber) Sachidanand.