IT employee held under 'digital arrest' in Telangana: Know how things unfolded

A 44-year-old IT employee placed under “digital arrest” by scamsters has managed to escape with the help of police without losing any money. The employee was under "digital arrest” for almost 30 hours for a fake money laundering case, reported PTI.

The event unfolded in the early hours of October 26 and went on till October 27. The fraudsters posed as the Mumbai Police and made video and voice calls to him through an instant messaging app. The fraudsters had instructed the victim not to disconnect the call, the report said, citing police officials.

They threatened to arrest him in a money laundering case and asked ₹40 lakh to withdraw it.

The victim informed the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police Station only after the call from fraudsters got disconnected on October 27 morning. The police informed him about the fraud.

On October 25 night, the victim received text messages saying that his mobile number and Aadhaar number were linked to a money laundering case filed in Mumbai. However, he did not pay attention to such messages.

On October 26 at 3 am, the fraudsters posed as the Mumbai Police made voice and video calls to him. They ordered him to stay on the call until they asked him to disconnect as part of verification. Additionally, they instructed him not to tell anybody else, including his family, about this incident. Following this, he went to a room in his house, the report added.

The fraudsters also sent fake documents, such as an FIR, arrest warrant, and court petition, that scared him. They also promised to clear his name from the case after he paid the demanded money.

When asked about his bank accounts, he revealed that he has a total of ₹25 lakh in the FDs and savings accounts. Upon receiving the information on bank accounts, the fraudsters threatened to move to a hotel as they claimed that the police were coming to pick him up from his house, it added.

After this, the victim drove to a distance of 15 km to the Ameerpet area and checked into a room. The fraudsters did not allow him to disconnect the call while driving, the report said. They asked him to make an RTGS payment to get released.

The fraud call got disconnected at 4 am on October 27 and the victim reached out to Cyber Crime Police. The police asked him to block the fraud number and spoke to him for an hour so that the victim did not take any extreme step.

However, no complaint was filed by the victim as he did not lose any money, the report said.

Indian cyber-security agency CERT shared a list of more than a dozen ways in which online scams are executed by fraudsters in the country, including “digital arrest."

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) advisory stated “digital arrest” as an online scam. In “digital arrest”, victims receive a phone call, e-mail or message claiming that they are under investigation for illegal activities.