Elderly woman falls victim to digital fraud, loses Rs 1.30 cr

NOIDA: A 73-year old woman, resident of Sector-49 in Noida, found herself ensnared in a digital arrest scam for nearly five days at her house, in which she had to shell out Rs 1.30 crore, said police officials on Friday.

According to the police, on June 13, the victim, Suchi Agarwal, had received a phone call from a person who claimed to be from the parcel agency FedEx. The fraudster told the victim that they have received a parcel in her name with expired passport, iPad and some other objectionable material including drugs.

The man said that he will transfer the call to an officer of Mumbai Narcotics department who started threatening her and joined her through a ‘Skype’ call. The man further threatened her saying that her Aadhar card has also been misused to open six different money laundering accounts.

In her complaint, the woman further mentioned that she was kept hostage inside her house for five days and during this time she transferred

Rs 1.30 crore into different bank accounts.

The fraudsters posing as police officials deceived her into believing that she was being investigated for money laundering. After transferring the money, she discussed it with her friends, only to realise that she had been defrauded of money.

Based on her complaint, the police registered a cheating case on Friday.

“On the basis of compliant, an FIR under section 419, 420 (fraud), and 66D of IT act has been registered at cyber crime police station in Noida.

“A probe is underway and actions will be taken accordingly,” said Umesh Chandra Naithani, a senior official at the cyber crime police station.