Digital arrest: Elderly man loses Rs 1.7 crore in Karnataka

Karwar: In yet another case of a senior citizen becoming a victim of the digital arrest scam, a 69-year-old man in Yellapur, Uttara Kannada district lost Rs 1.74 crore to cybercriminals posing as Mumbai police.

Shivanand Hegde (69) was allegedly told by the cybercriminals that terrorists had used his Aadhaar credentials and opened an account, which they had then used to carry out transactions running into crores of rupees. Subsequently, a case was registered at the CEN police station.

“Hegde received a call from the cybercriminals on April 21, and was told that senior police officers were probing the transactions carried out from the account that had been opened by terrorists using his Aadhaar card. In fact, Hegde even spoke to a man dressed in a police uniform on a video call. He was placed under digital arrest and money was transferred from his account through multiple transactions,” cops attached to the CEN police station said.