Mohali: Rtd SDO faces 2-day ‘digital arrest’, loses ₹41 lakh to fraudsters

A retired government employee was subjected to a 48-hour “digital arrest” scam, resulting in a financial loss of ₹41 lakh. He remained under continuous scrutiny of the cyber fraudsters posing as CBI and ED officials through video calls.

The 68-year-old victim, a resident of Mohali, who retired as a sub-divisional officer (SDO), was forced to sleep at night with video call on, enabling scammers to keep an eye on him round the clock from October 17 till October 19.

On the video call, the victim could just see logos of these central investigative agencies as their display pictures (DP) and did not see any faces but followed different voices giving him commands and threats.

The fraudsters bluffed the victim by claiming that his number was being used for money laundering transactions and thus, he would be arrested soon. To avoid public shaming, they forced him to transfer money to their accounts.

Talking to HT, the victim’s son said, “I was not at home when my father received a video call on his phone with the CBI logo. The officer told him that he was a key suspect in a money laundering case and thus, was digitally arrested until the investigation was completed. They did not allow him to move out of the room for long and asked him to restrict the entry of other family members in the room. They told my father that he was under the surveillance of the cops and law enforcement officers as they were keeping an eye on him each moment and thus they could arrest him anytime. As my sister is abroad, they also told him that they would have to call her here for an investigation. After my father got tricked, he started following their instructions and ended up transferring ₹41 lakh to their accounts.”

When the victim went out of his house to transfer the money, he was asked to send “I am safe” text every hour.

It was only after his son reached home on October 19, that his mother revealed to him about their ordeal while his father was still locked inside the room attending video calls of the fraudsters. “I immediately could sense that we were duped and rushed inside the room. I screamed at the fraudsters who laughed at me and disconnected the call. They wanted ₹50 lakh more. We rushed to cyber police and lodged a complaint. My parents are yet to recover from the trauma,” he added.

In another case, a professor at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, was also subjected to a “digital scam”. While she was about to transfer money, her neighbour knocked at the door. When she asked him to return later as she was on a video call with some police officers, her neighbour immediately alerted her of the scam.

The woman lodged a complaint with the cyber police to avoid misuse of her photos or screenshots captured by the fraudsters during the call.

Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Deepak Pareek said, “Investigation agencies including CBI, ED or police, do not arrest anyone on video call. In case of any doubt, one should immediately approach the cyber police or contact at 1930 to save your money.”

DSP Jatinder Chauhan, cyber police, Mohali, said constant awareness efforts are being made by the police by uploading videos of victims on the social media platforms of the police.

“Digital arrest” is the virtual detention of the victims by cyber fraudsters, posing as law enforcement officers. The victims are not allowed to interact or share their ordeal with anyone. They remain in continuous surveillance of scammers till they succeed in extracting huge amounts. Notably, 50 digital arrest cases have come to the fore in the past six months in Mohali.