A fraudster trying to act as a police officer tried to take away by fraud ₹35 lakh from a senior citizen by staging a fake case of “digital arrest” over a video call.
The victim then went to a Bank of Baroda branch in Belthangady and even submitted a request to transfer ₹35 lakh via RTGS to an account in Axis Bank, Bhagalpur.
M.V. Vinod, who was assigned as the Chief Manager at the branch, sensed something was wrong.
He noticed that the customer, an elderly woman, appeared very frightened and nervous, and that her explanation for the large withdrawal was something that was not up to the mark and something that didn’t add up.
Vinod thus delayed processing the transaction and insisted on verifying her request.
When the woman returned to complete the transfer, Vinod followed her home due to his suspicions.
At her house, he then saw her on a live video call with a man dressed as a police inspector, who was someone who claimed she was under investigation and threatened her with arrest.
Alarmed by all these incidents, Vinod took her phone and brought the call to the Belthangady Police Station, where real officers confronted the impostor.
This incident highlights the growing cases of menace of “digital arrest” scams, where cybercriminals impersonate law enforcement over digital platforms like video calls and coerce victims with threats of legal action.
Authorities thereby also warn that no legitimate police or enforcement agency arrests people via video call, and have also urged anyone who’s facing such calls to immediately hang up and straight away go and report the incident to the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 or via cybercrime.gov.in.
Image Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery
