'Digital Arrest': Bengaluru Techie Defrauded Of Rs 12 Crore In 18 Days

A Bengaluru-based software engineer was allegedly defrauded of Rs 11.8 crore within a span of 18 days as he fell victim to the "digital arrest" scam, reports said on Monday.

The 39-year-old techie, whose identity was not disclosed in the preliminary reports, registered a complaint with North-East CEN police station in the city on Dec. 12.

In his complaint, the victim reportedly said that he was first targeted last month when a person called him and claimed that he is an "officer" of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The person told him that a SIM card-linked to his Aadhaar card was used for harassment messages and illegal advertisements. The victim was told that a complaint in this regard has been registered with Mumbai's Colaba Cyber Police Station.

Subsequently, another individual called the victim on his phone and told him that his Aadhaar card was misused to open a bank account, which is involved in money laundering, the reports said, citing the complaint. The individual asked to keep the matter confidential, as the persons involved in the money laundering case are influential and some of them are under arrest.

This was followed by the victim receiving another call, where the persons who engaged with him asked him to download Skype and join the "virtual investigation".

Subsequently, a person who claimed to be representing the Mumbai Police called the victim and told him that his Aadhaar card was misused by a businessman to open an account in the Canara Bank and carry out a transaction worth Rs 6 crore, the Indian Express reported, citing the complaint.

Thereafter, the victim was reportedly contacted over Skype by a person identified as a "senior police officer" on Nov. 25. He convinced the victim to transfer funds into a third party account for "verification purpose". The person also threatened to "arrest" his family if he failed to cooperate with the investigation, the report added.

The victim allegedly transferred Rs 75 lakh in the first instance, after being threatened with arrest and other legal consequences by the fraudsters. In subsequent calls, he was asked to deposit more money. He ended up depositing Rs 3.41 crore in another account, the reports added, citing his complaint.

The victim kept on transferring funds till Dec. 12, when he realised that he was duped under the digital arrest scam. He subsequently approached the police and claimed that he transferred a total of Rs 11.8 crore to the fraudsters between Nov. 25 and Dec. 12.

As per the police, the amount lost by the Bengaluru techie in this digital arrest case is way higher than the amount victims lose typically in such kinds of fraud. Based on the complaint, a case has been registered under Information Technology Act and sections 318 (cheating) and 319 (cheating by impersonation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Notably, cybercrimes worth Rs 2,047 crore have been recorded in Karnataka this year, till November, as per the data released by the state government earlier this month. In Bengaluru, the state capital and IT hub, victims lost Rs 1,806 crore to cybercrimes in the same period.