Retired doctor conned of Rs 95 lakh in digital arrest scam

Lucknow: In another shocking case of digital arrest, a retired doctor from Gomtinagar in Uttar Pradesh was recently held under 'digital arrest' at his own house for two days until he transferred Rs 95 lakh out of fear to fraudsters in a drug parcel case.  

The doctor was reportedly mentally harassed and threatened by the scammers to keep him under control and prevent him from contacting the police. They kept him under constant pressure for two days and closely monitored his every move. 

Despite already losing Rs 95 lakh to the fraudsters in the fake case, the doctor remained unaware of the full extent of the scam. It was only when the scammers demanded an additional Rs 25 lakh that he was caught off guard and finally realized he had been deceived for the past two days.

Also read- 80-year-old doctor kept under digital arrest for 8 days, cheated of Rs 80 lakhs

The doctor, who received this amount as part of his retirement benefits, fell into the trap on April 6 after getting a suspicious WhatsApp call around 2 pm. The caller introduced himself as Deepak Kumar Srivastava, claiming to be an employee of Bluedart Courier.

He told the doctor that a parcel containing illegal items in his name had been caught, and the matter had been reported to the police. The caller then connected him to a man posing as a police officer named K. Mohandas through a conference call.

Later, the doctor received another call where he was told that someone had misused his Aadhaar card to send the illegal parcel, and that an investigation was underway. The fraudsters convinced him that the matter was serious and confidential, warning him not to talk to anyone.

"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, reports TOI. 

For the next two days, the doctor was kept under constant pressure. The scammers monitored him through video calls, mentally harassed him, and warned him repeatedly that his cooperation was crucial to clear his name. 

"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.

The doctor realized that he was duped only when they later asked for another Rs 25 lakh. Following this, he lodged a complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station on April 8. 

Brijesh Yadav, station house officer, cyber police station, told HT, "When they started demanding ₹25 lakh more, the doctor suspected fraud and reported it to police, after which an FIR was registered on April 8 under multiple sections of BNS and IT Act, 2008. Efforts are being made to hold the money from the fraudsters.

“Such cases are being registered continuously. Along with this, the inspector said to be careful of those who ask for money online in the name of investigation,” Yadav told ETV Bharat. 

Also read- Digital Arrest Scam: How Cops save doctor from losing money to fraudsters