Senior citizen placed under 'digital arrest' on pretext of Delhi blast probe, loses Rs 16.5 lakh

Mumbai: A 75-year-old retired civic official has allegedly been duped of Rs 16.5 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as ATS and NIA personnel and placed him under "digital arrest" for interrogation, claiming his name surfaced in the Delhi bomb blast case, police said.

The victim, a resident of Andheri (East) in Mumbai, approached the West Region Cyber Police Station on Monday, an official said on Wednesday.

An explosive-laden vehicle detonated outside the historic Red Fort in Delhi on November 10 last year, killing over 12 persons.

According to the police, the victim, a retired official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, received a call on December 11 from unidentified persons claiming to be officers from the Delhi anti-terrorism department. The caller threatened him, saying his name had surfaced in the Delhi bomb blast case and that he needed to be interrogated secretly.

The caller then asked the victim to download the Signal application, where he received a video call. During the call, one of the fraudsters posed as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer Sadanand Date.

The caller told the victim that a bank account linked to his mobile number had allegedly received Rs 7 crore through money laundering activities and warned that he would be arrested in the case, the police said.

Citing the seriousness of the matter and its alleged connection to national security, the caller instructed the victim not to discuss the issue with anyone.

The fraudsters claimed that the agency needed to verify whether his investments and deposits were from legal sources, and asked the victim to transfer his money to certain bank accounts for verification, a police official said.

Accordingly, the victim deposited Rs 16.5 lakh, following which the caller blocked his number.

The victim later approached the cyber police and lodged a complaint, based on which a case has been registered against unidentified persons, the official said.

Digital arrest is a growing form of cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement, court officials or personnel from government agencies to intimidate victims through audio and video calls. They hold the victims hostage and put pressure on them to pay money.

In December last year, the Supreme Court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out a unified pan-India probe into cases of digital arrest fraud. It had passed the directions in a suo motu case registered on the complaint of an elderly couple from Haryana.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on January 15 informed the apex court that it had formed a high-level committee to examine issues regarding the digital arrest fraud.