Woman put under digital arrest in Dehradun, duped of Rs 1.7 crore

The caller told the woman that they found illegal documents, five passports, five ATM cards, a laptop, $5,000 in cash, 200 grams of MDMA narcotic drug and four kilograms of clothes from a consignment bearing her name.

Dehradun: A man has been arrested for allegedly putting a woman under digital arrest at her home here and duping her of Rs 1.7 crore, police said on Thursday.

'Digital arrest' is a new cyber fraud, where the accused pose as law enforcement agency officials, like CBI or customs officials, and threatens people of arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international parcels of banned drugs, they said.

According to police, the victim reportedly received a call from FedEx Courier informing her that she had sent a consignment from Mumbai to Taiwan.

They told her that her details, including her mobile number and email address, were mentioned on the parcel. Soon after, she received a video call from a person who introduced himself as a CBI officer from Mumbai Crime Branch, SSP Special Task Force Navneet Bhullar said.

The caller told the woman that they found illegal documents, five passports, five ATM cards, a laptop, USD 5,000 in cash, 200 grams of MDMA narcotic drug and four kilograms of clothes from the consignment. He accused her of money laundering and drug smuggling and threatened to arrest her, the SSP (STF) said.

The caller asked for her Aadhaar number and told her that it had been used in several money laundering cases. He also asked her to come to Mumbai and cooperate in the investigation or record her statement online, SSP (STF) added.

After this, the caller made her download an app, connected to the fake crime branch site of Mumbai police and started a video call. During the call, she was told that the entire investigation process would be recorded to be presented before the court and the process could take up to two days, Bhullar said.

She was told to keep the doors of her house closed and not to talk to anyone. She was also threatened and asked to transfer money for verification. They told her that after the investigation, her money would be returned, Bullar said.

However, when that did not happen, she realised that she had been cheated and approached the police, Bhullar added.

The police arrested the accused, Mani Kumar, on Wednesday from his home in Yamunanagar, Haryana. A mobile phone, two debit and credit cards, two Aadhar cards and a PAN card have been recovered. Further investigation is underway, the officer added.