Duped of Rs 5 lakhs, retired air force personnel becomes victim of 'digital arrest' in Faridabad

Faridabad: A retired Air Force official from Faridabad was duped of Rs 5 lakh by fraudsters posing as TRAI and CBI officials, who placed him under “digital arrest” for 55 hours, the police said on Wednesday.

The victim, Aditya Kumar Jha (55), a retired sergeant from the Air Force, is currently employed as a clerk at Punjab National Bank.

On October 6, a day after returning from Haryana election duty, Jha received a video call at around 9:50 am from an unknown number while his wife and son were at the Jhandewalan temple in Delhi.

One of the callers, posing as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) official, told Jha that his mobile number would be deactivated in two hours because someone had obtained a SIM card using his Aadhar details in Delhi, and gambling messages were being sent from that number, police said.

Meanwhile, the second fraudster, introducing himself as Vijay Kumar, a DCP from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), claimed that arrest warrants had been issued against Jha, further alarming him, they said.

"The caller instructed me to reach the CBI's Delhi office within two hours. When I refused, he told me that a money laundering case involving Rs 6.68 crore had been filed against me, accusing me of being involved in the case along with Nawab Malik," Jha stated in his complaint.

The scammers then demanded Jha's bank account details and placed him under “digital arrest,” warning him not to disconnect the video call, or they would take action against his family, police said.

“Digital arrest” is a type of cyber fraud where scammers impersonate law enforcement or government officials, intimidating victims through audio or video calls and coercing them into making payments.

The fraudsters instructed Jha to transfer a sum of money into a specified bank account under the pretense of an investigation into money laundering. When the transaction failed, they ordered him to visit his bank's home branch in Madhubani, Bihar, police added.

Jha, not disconnecting the call, travelled by train to Bihar where he transferred Rs 5.03 lakh to the account as instructed.

Suspicion arose when a relative of Jha called the same number from which he had received the initial call on October 8, causing the phone to disconnect. The relative then informed Jha's son in Delhi, who travelled to Bihar, took his father back to Faridabad.

The victim then registered an FIR at the Cyber Crime Central Police Station here.

A senior police officer stated that preliminary investigations revealed the money had been transferred into several different bank accounts. We are on job and trying to find out the accused, he added.