Retd doc loses Rs 95L to cyber cons in digi arrest scam

Lucknow: A 76-year-old retired doctor lost Rs 95 lakh to scamsters who held the senior citizen in digital arrest at his house for two days, police said.
The victim, Dr BN Singh of Virat Khand in Gomti Nagar, told the police that on Sunday (April 6) at around 2pm, a person named Deepak Kumar Srivastava called him on WhatsApp, introducing himself as an employee of a popular courier company.
"He said that an illegal parcel had been caught that had my name, and that I would have to speak with police officer K Mohandas. After this, I was made to talk to the man posing as the so-called officer," he told police.
The victim in his FIR said the same officer called from another number, saying the parcel was being sent by misusing his Aadhaar number and it contained illegal goods.
Dr Singh further told the police that the cyber cons told him that the investigation was confidential and during this time, no contact will be made with anyone.
"During this time, the man kept talking on video call and chat. The caller asked me to transfer money into a specified account in the name of the investigation, saying the same would be returned once the case was solved. They kept me under digital arrest for two days and forced me to transfer Rs 95 lakh through RTGS within 48 hours between April 6 and April 8," he said.
Dr Singh further said he suspected something was wrong when they started demanding another Rs 25 lakh. He then approached the police.
Cyber Police Station SHO Brijesh Yadav said an FIR was registered on April 8 under multiple sections of BNS and the IT Act, 2008 and efforts are on to recover the money.