Mumbai businessmanloses Rs 58 cr in‘digital arrest’ fraud

 

 

 

A 72-year-old businessman in Mumbai has allegedly been dupedofa staggeringRs 58crore in a ‘digital arrest’ scam orchestratedbyfraudstersposing asED and CBI officials, police said on Thursday. The Rs 58 crore loss could be one of the largest reported in a ‘digital arrest’ cyber fraud case involving anindividual, anofficialsaid. The Maharashtra cyber department, which is conducting a probe into the case, has arrested three persons, he said. ‘Digitalarrest’isagrowing form of cyber crime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials or personnel of government agencies and intimidate victims through audio/video calls.

 

They hold the victims hostage and put pressure onthem to pay money. In the latest case, the fraudsters, posing as personnel of the Enforcement Directorate and theCentral Bureau of Investigation, contacted the businessmanbetween August19 to October 8and claimed hisname hadcropped up in acase of moneylaundering. The businessman got scared asthey placed him and his wifeunder “digital arrest” after making a video call to him, the official said. The fraudsters asked him todeposit money into the bankaccounts specified by them. The victim transferred Rs 58crore through RTGS in multiplebank accounts within a span of about two months, the official said.