Noida businessman duped of ₹5 lakh in cyber fraud

Noida: A 52-year-old businessman in Noida was allegedly put under “digital arrest” and duped of ₹5 lakh by a fraudster who pretended to be representing law enforcement agencies, the cybercrime police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on June 5 but it was days later that Naveen Kumar Anand, a resident of Sector 62, realised that he had been actually defrauded. Following his police complaint against an unidentified person, a first information report (FIR) was registered on Sunday (June 16) at the Sector 58 police station, under charges of cheating of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the IT Act.

According to Anand, he received a call on June 5 from an unidentified caller, claiming to be from the Mumbai crime branch.

“I received the call at around 2pm that lasted till 5pm. I was forced to stay on the call as the caller said I was under ‘digital arrest’. He claimed that he had received a package, carrying my name and details, and containing drugs. He threatened that an arrest warrant would be issued against me under charges of drugs smuggling and money laundering, if I did not immediately pay a certain amount,” said Anand, a footwear designer and businessman.

The caller allegedly directed Anand to transfer all of his funds in a bank account.

“The caller said that he believed that I was not guilty but I would have to transfer funds from all my accounts to another PFC (power finance corporation) account, as per the directives of ‘supreme court auditors’. He said that if I didn’t transfer funds, they will freeze my bank account,” said Anand.

By 5pm on the same day, Anand had transferred ₹5 lakh in the said account, he shared.

“I was told that the amount would be returned to me after investigation. However, it was only after a week, that I realised that I had been duped. I then decided to approach the police station,” said Anand.

According to Amit Kumar, station house officer, Sector 58 police station, the bank account where the amount was transferred was checked by police.

“It has been found that the fraudster withdrew the complainant’s money from there. We are investigating the matter and trying to get the complainant’s money back and arrest the culprits,” the officer added.