New Delhi: A 45-year-old professor of a premier institute was coerced by digital frauds to stay confined indoors for two hours and was made to part with Rs 7 lakh in Vasant Kunj, south-west Delhi.
In this kind of digital fraud, an unsuspecting person generally gets calls from a group of fraudsters who tell their victim that something unlawful has been found in his name, most often in a shipment supposedly having the victim's name or a bank account. They then tell the victim to do a trade-off which involves transferring large sums of money to clear the victim's name from the fictitious case. Often the frauds pose as police. They also take other people's bank accounts on rent to receive the money from such crimes.
Last year, an elderly businessman was told that there was a consignment in his name in Mumbai that contained drugs. The businessman was then made to part with several lakhs.
As the conversations generally happen indoors and the victim is told to stay home till the transaction is over, these crimes are now called digital arrest cases.
In the Vasant Kunj case, police have arrested one of the suspects. While scanning his digital devices, it was discovered that he was connected with scamsters based in Cambodia.
According to the police, the professor was at her residence and got a call from the frauds claiming that a bank account, opened using her Aadhaar number, was involved in anti-national activities. They told her this was a matter of national security. She was threatened and parted with Rs 6 lakh.
The accused was identified as Mohit Bahot (22), a resident of Madhya Pradesh.
On Oct 7, police received a complaint alleging that the woman had received a call from an unknown person posing as a customer care executive of a govt bank. The caller claimed that an illegal amount was deposited in an account opened using the complainant's Aadhaar identity. They further stated that a bank account in the complainant's name was used for fraudulent activities. The complainant was repeatedly told about the CBI and coerced to stay indoors, under digital arrest, for two hours. Under immense pressure, she deposited nearly Rs 7 lakh through a cheque.
A case was registered based on the complaint.
During the investigation, the probe teams adopted a two-pronged strategy: one focused on tracking the money trail, and the other on technical leads.
Analysis of the money trail revealed that Rs 3 lakh of the total amount was credited to Bahot's bank account.
Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said that a team led by SHO (cyber) Vikas Singh Buldak apprehended Bahot after searches at Kabeetpura, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
During interrogation, Bahot told police that he was not well educated, was unemployed, and was heavily in debt. He came in contact with an associate who convinced him of earning high commissions by renting out his current account.
He was also involved in threatening people under the guise of digital arrest.