Hyderabad: A shocking cyber fraud case has come to light in Telangana's Medchal–Malkajgiri district, where a retired professor was digitally “arrested” and duped of Rs 1.60 crore. Police filed the FIR and launched a probe to nab the culprits.
According to police, the victim, a 78-year-old retired professor, a resident of Medchal, an outer suburb near here, lodged a complaint with the Cyberabad Cybercrime Police recently.
She stated that she received a WhatsApp video call from a person posing as a Delhi Cybercrime Department officer, who claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case against her. The caller also insisted that she was on a list of suspects and would need to speak to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.
She was later contacted by another person identifying himself as a CBI officer, who threatened her with arrest, passport cancellation, and a ban on international travel. The impersonator demanded her bank account details under the pretext of verifying transactions. He then claimed that all her money had to be temporarily transferred for RBI inspection. The caller also instructed the professor to transfer Rs 1.6 crore to clear his name in the investigation and kept her “digitally arrested".
Fearing legal action, the professor first transferred Rs 1 crore from her account to the account given by the caller. When the calls for more money continued, the professor even borrowed from relatives and transferred an additional Rs 60 lakh in seven instalments.
It was only after discussing the situation with acquaintances that she realised she had been scammed. The victim then approached the Cyberabad Cybercrime Police, who have registered a case and launched an investigation.
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