Dehradun: Uttarakhand’s special task force (STF) has recently arrested a person from Yamunanagar district of Haryana on the charge of allegedly putting a woman under “digital arrest” at her home in Dehradun and duping her of Rs 1.7 crore.
‘Digital arrest’ is currently referred to a new cyber fraud, where the accused pose as law enforcement agency officials, like CBI or customs officials, and threaten people of arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international parcels of banned drugs, they said.
Victim approached the police
According to STF, the victim recently reached the Cybercrime police station, Dehradun and lodged a complaint regarding the incident. She reportedly received a call from a courier company. The caller told her that she had sent a consignment from Mumbai to Taiwan. The caller also told her that her details, including her mobile number and email address, were mentioned on the parcel.
The victim received video call
STF SSP Navneet Bhullar, in a press release, said she soon received a video call from a person who introduced himself as a CBI officer from a Crime Branch. The caller told the woman that they found illegal documents, five passports, five ATM cards, a laptop, 200 grams of MDMA narcotic drug and four kilograms of clothes from the consignment.
The caller sought her Aadhaar number
The caller also blamed the victim for her alleged involvement in money laundering and drug smuggling. They he threatened to arrest her, the SSP (STF) Bhullar further said. Seeking her Aadhaar number, the caller told her that it had been used in several money laundering cases.
The caller asked the woman to download an App
She was asked by the caller to come to Mumbai and cooperate in the investigation. They also gave her the option of recording her statement online, STF SSP Bhullar further said in the press release. The caller asked her to download an app. Subsequently, they allegedly got her connected to the fake crime branch site and started a video call.
She approached the police
During the call, she was threatened and asked to transfer money for verification. They told her that the money would be returned after the investigation. Later, she realized that she had been cheated. Then she approached the police.
The police arrested the accused, Mani Kumar on December 9 in connection with the incident.
