Digital arrest: Bengaluru techie loses Rs 34 lakh to cyberfraudsters

Bengaluru: A Bengaluru techie lost over Rs 34 lakh to cybercriminals who held him under “digital arrest” for nearly 20 days, the police said.

The East CEN police have registered an FIR and launched a probe.

The police said that Somashekar R (name changed), a software engineer from Babusapalya, received a call on July 5 from men claiming to be from the Colaba police station, Mumbai. They alleged a phone number in his name was being used to send harassing messages.

When he denied the charge, they said he must cooperate to get a no-objection certificate. They then accused him of being involved in a money-laundering case and told him he was under 24/7 surveillance.

As per the FIR, the callers claimed there would be a court hearing and asked for his savings account details. They instructed him to transfer his money to a “verification” account to prove it was not laundered.

Between July 5 and July 24, he transferred Rs 34.69 lakh. When the callers stopped responding, he informed his family and then approached the police.

"I had applied for a personal loan of Rs 24,00,000 with Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, while the rest of the money was from my savings,” the FIR quoted him as saying.