Hyderabad: Two septuagenarians have lost over ₹9 lakh in two separate cases of ‘digital arrest’ frauds. Posing as law enforcement officers, the accused had extorted money from the two victims. Based on the complaints, Hyderabad and Malkajgiri police registered separate cases on Thursday.In the first case, a 72-year-old retired TGSRTC employee from Nadergul approached Hyderabad Cyber Crime police, stating that he received a call on July 21 from a person claiming to be a representative of a telecom company. The caller alleged that a mobile number linked to the victim’s Aadhaar was used in a money laundering case.The caller connected the victim through a video call to fraudsters posing as CBI officers, Rahul Gupta, Shiva Subramanyam and Vijay Kanna. “They showed fake FIRs, court orders and bank documents. I was kept under video surveillance, and they prevented me from speaking freely with anyone. I was repeatedly threatened that disconnecting the call would result in my immediate arrest by CBI officers,” the victim said.Under coercion, the victim prematurely closed his fixed deposit and transferred ₹5 lakh through RTGS to a bank account provided by the accused on July 22. As his amount was not returned and the phone numbers of the accused became inaccessible, the victim approached police on July 23 with a complaint.In a similar incident, a 73-year-old retired govt employee from Trimulgherry approached Malkajgiri Cyber Crime police, alleging that unknown callers posing as officials from the Data Protection Board of India and Mumbai police cheated him. The accused lied to him that 247 bank accounts linked to his Aadhaar card were involved in the transfer of ₹2.5 crore crime proceeds. By sending him a fake court order on WhatsApp, the accused forced him to transfer ₹4 lakh to a bank account given by them on July 22 and subsequently stopped all communication with him. The victim approached Malkajgiri police on July 23.Based on both the complaints, two separate cases were registered under relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Acts.
