Hyderabad:Cyber fraudsters posing as crime branch officers “digital arrested” a 45-year-old Hyderabad man for two days and duped him of ‘7.5 lakh by falsely claiming that that his name had turned up in courier case. In what could turn out to be new trend, they contacted his relatives as well.
On Monday, the victim lodged a complaint with the cyber crime unit (CCU), stating he received a call alleging that a shipment from Mumbai to China containing five passports, drugs and a laptop was linked to him. The caller threatened to escalate the matter to the crime branch.
"The fraudsters claimed the victim’s Aadhaar and PAN details were used for the shipment. They contacted the victim’s relatives and friends, causing further panic. Under their instructions, the victim downloaded Skype but noticed the fraudsters’ camera was off," a CCU officer said.
The victim stated that the fraudsters told him an arrest warrant had been issued against him for money laundering. They warned that police would arrive at his office within five minutes unless he complied.
Later the fraudster instructed the victim to share his screen and stayed in touch with him over the phone for two days, monitoring all his activities. The fraudsters directed the victim to go to a silent place and not inform anyone about the situation.
The victim then received a call from a “crime branch DCP, the only person who could help". The victim stated that he was terrified as he received a copy of the supposed arrest warrant from the fraudster.
The fraudsters then instructed the victim to transfer 95 per cent of his savings into their account, supposedly to verify its genuineness. They promised to refund the amount later, with a ‘police clearance certificate’.
Believing the call to be genuine, the victim transferred a substantial amount of `7,50,197 into the fraudster’s account for verification purposes and lost the money.
