Digital arrest: Couple forced to stay on video call for 3 days, duped of Rs 50.5 lakh; two held

Mumbai: A retired banker and his wife were made to stay on a video call for three days by fraudsters posing as policemen, who also tricked the couple into transferring Rs 50.5 lakh, police said on Wednesday.

The police have arrested two persons whose bank accounts were used to receive the money from the couple and other victims of cyber fraud, an official said.

The duo, identified as Ravi Ananda Ambore (35) and Vishwapal Chandrakant Jadhav (37), had allowed the cybercriminals to route transactions through their accounts for commissions, he said.

The ‘digital arrest’ came to light on October 10, when the resident of north Mumbai approached the police, complaining that cybercriminals had swindled his hard-earned money.

According to the complaint, the victim received WhatsApp calls between September 11 and 24 from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as a police officer from Nashik and claimed that the complainant’s name had come up during a money-laundering probe.

The victim was told that suspicious transactions had been detected in his bank account and was shown a fake FIR carrying his name, the official said.

The caller also posed as an IPS officer attached to the National Investigation Agency and told the man and his wife that they were under surveillance. The couple was kept on a video call for three days, he said.

Under the pretext of interrogation, the accused gathered the bank details and fixed deposits made by the senior citizen. The complainant was then told to transfer the money to a bank account, saying it had to be verified.

Frightened, the man transferred Rs 50.5 lakh to the given account. After emptying his account, the conman stopped calling him, the official said.

Realising that he had been cheated, the senior citizen approached the police, following which a case was registered at the North Region cyber police station.

Investigators soon found out that the victim had deposited Rs 29.5 lakh into a “first-layer” mule account. They tracked the account holder, Ravi Ambore, to Ulhasnagar in Thane district.

Accordingly, the police apprehended Ambore (35) on October 25. Ambore told the police that he had rented his account for a commission.

Working on the information gathered from Ambore, the police arrested Vishwapal Jadhav (37), the official said, adding that his bank account was used to dupe people in seven cases in various states.