Noida: A woman techie working at a private IT company in Noida was duped with over Rs 11 lakh in a case of digital arrest and fraud.
Police said that the girl was not allowed to talk to anyone and the cyber fraudsters held her captive alone inside her house for nearly eight hours as they kept asking many questions on a Skype call.
According to police, the victim, a resident of Dharavali Apartments in sector 34 of Noida, received a call from an unknown number on November 13. The caller posed as an employee of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
“The caller told the victim that a SIM card had been purchased using her Aadhaar card, which was used for money laundering and that fraud of around Rs 2 crore has been done with the SIM card. The woman was allegedly threatened and intimidated by making a Skype video call, where a few men wearing uniforms posed as officials of Mumbai Police, Crime Branch and Customs department,” said Rita Yadav, in-charge, Cyber cell police station in Noida.
The woman was kept hostage inside her house for nearly eight hours by the fraudsters and they only disconnected the call after she transferred Rs 11,11,000 into various bank accounts after she was mentally harassed by the conmen, Yadav added.
Police said that they have registered a case on the complaint of the victim and started investigating the matter. Investigation revealed the incident was a case of “digital arrest”.
Detailing on digital arrest, the senior cop said that in digital arrest, the fraudsters monitor through video calling on Skype or other apps from mobile or laptop.
“The victim is not allowed to stay away from the video call by intimidation. The victim is kept hostage in the house or wherever he is. During this period, the victim can neither talk to anyone nor go anywhere. He is mentally harassed and tortured in order to threaten him and dupe him,” police said.