Hyderabad: Threatening the victim that he would be arrested for his involvement in a `68-crore fraud case, the fraudsters squeezed Rs 2.88 crore from a city-based octogenarian. While the investigation is underway, the police teams also worked on recovering the lost money and successfully refunded the victim Rs 1.56 crore so far.
According to the Hyderabad cybercrime police, some unidentified fraudsters digital-arrested a Hyderabad-based 84-year-old victim. The gang claimed that they were from the CBI and kept the victim in touch with various fraudsters, who were impersonating CBI officials and prosecutors. They claimed that his name came up in an investigation of 300 fraud cases and the victim received a share of Rs 68 crore.
They demanded the victim transfer the amount he possessed and said they would refund the amount once it was verified as genuine. The victim was terrified that he would be sent to jail. During the digital arrest, he was confined and told not to discuss the case with anyone. Meanwhile, he was forced to transfer the amount in different intervals.
Hyderabad cybercrime investigated the case and found that the amounts were transferred to Axis and SBI bank accounts. Police secured court orders to the banks for a refund of the amount. They could recover Rs 53 lakh from Axis Bank, Surat, in the first stage and Rs 50 lakh from SBI, Kerala, in the second stage; and refund it to the victim. With their regular follow-up with bank officials, police transferred another Rs 53 lakh to the complainant’s bank account on Wednesday. A total of Rs 1.56 crore has been restituted so far.
