‘Your ATM card flagged in Naresh Goyal money laundering case’: Pune woman loses Rs 40 lakh to ‘digital arrest’ fraud

As she said she would not beryllium capable to marque it successful that abbreviated period, she allegedly received a telephone from different caller who identified himself arsenic an serviceman of the Andheri constabulary station. Wearing a constabulary azygous and misusing the sanction of a elder serving constabulary serviceman successful Mumbai, ‘Pradeep Sawant’, the fraudster allegedly told the complainant connected the video telephone that an ATM paper successful her sanction had been flagged successful the “Naresh Goyal wealth laundering case”.

The fraudster told her that she was 1 of the 247 accused successful the lawsuit and that she was receiving Rs 17 to 18 lakh commission, the constabulary said. The complainant vehemently denied immoderate links with specified matter, and she was told that her lawsuit had been transferred to the CBI, they added.

Later, she allegedly received a video telephone from a pistillate who identified herself arsenic CBI serviceman Akanksha Agarwal. The pistillate allegedly coerced the complainant into sharing details of each her savings and investments. The pistillate told the complainant that she would person to beryllium nether “digital custody” arsenic portion of her “digital arrest”, and for that, she would person to beryllium connected WhatsApp for 24 hours, said the police.

During this period, the pistillate allegedly told the complainant that she was not allowed to speech to oregon interaction anyone. Later, she allegedly asked the complainant to liquidate each her investments. In 8 ample transactions, the complainant was allegedly made to transportation 40.6 lakh to fraudulent accounts, saying that the wealth was being sent for an “audit by the RBI to verify if it was achromatic money”.

When much wealth was sought from her, the complainant started coming to presumption with the information that she had been cheated and approached the police, who person begun a probe.

The Indian Express earlier reported that these scams are multilayered and geographically distributed multinational syndicates siphoning wealth from unsuspecting victims to mule accounts and funnelling it to planetary cyber masterminds done the cryptocurrency route. In an advisory issued astir specified online blackmail cases, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said successful May 2024, “A ample fig of complaints are being reported connected National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) regarding intimidation, blackmail, extortion and “Digital Arrests” by cyber criminalsposing arsenic Police Authorities, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate and different Law Enforcement Agencies.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi precocious highlighted these frauds successful his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ vigor address.

Cyber investigators person reported that successful galore of these cases, the online fraudsters person misused the names of concern radical specified arsenic histrion Shilpa Shetty’s hubby Raj Kundra, Jet Airways laminitis Naresh Goyal, ICICI Bank’s erstwhile MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar and NCP person Nawab Malik, who person faced investigations by assorted agencies. These names are utilized to endanger the victims that names had travel up successful the related probes.