Septuagenarian classical singer under ‘digital arrest’ for 18 days loses Rs 1.2 crore

MUMBAI: A noted Hindustani classical singer and musician lost Rs 1.2 crore to a digital arrest scam where fraudsters kept him under surveillance for 18 days.
The musician, who is in his late seventies, approached the North Region cyber police with a complaint recently, following which an FIR was registered.
On Jan 31, the complainant was in the western suburbs when he received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be a bank employee and said his mobile number was linked with a credit card that had run up dues up to Rs 1 lakh. He was threatened with legal action for not paying the dues. The call was then connected to a "police inspector".

A fraudster, posing as the police inspector, accused the senior citizen of being involved in money laundering. The complainant was also served a letter which stated that the "Supreme Court" was inquiring into the matter.
"The fraudster claimed that the senior citizen's bank account was linked to a money laundering case running into Rs 300 crore. He further alleged that Rs 2 crore from money laundering was transferred to the senior citizen's bank account, besides a commission of Rs 25 lakh," said a cyber police officer.
The senior citizen was forbidden from speaking to anyone and warned that he was under watch. He was required to take permission from the fraudsters before stepping out of the house.
On their instructions, he liquidated his fixed deposits and mutual funds. He paid Rs 1.2 crore via RTGS in five transactions.
After he realised that he had been taken for a ride, he approached the cyber police.
With the assistance of cyber helpline ‘1930,' around Rs 13 lakh belonging to the senior citizen was blocked. Further, over 30 bank accounts connected to the fraudsters have been frozen by cyber police.
"There is no practice such as digital arrests. People often fall prey to these scams due to insufficient awareness, misplaced trust in online interactions, and exploitation through social engineering tactics," said a senior police officer.
Recently, the 1930 cyber helpline was instrumental in blocking a sum of Rs 1.5 crore within a single day that individuals had lost to various frauds. Key among these were investment frauds, online shopping frauds over social media, share trading frauds and creating fake profiles on WhatsApp to demand money.