Ahmedabad: A 73-year-old retired Life Insurance Corporation of India employee lost over Rs 1 crore during his ‘digital arrest’ that continued for seven months. Fraudsters posed as police, CBI and court officials, even threatened him with arrest and harm to his family members.The victim, a resident of Bhadra, approached Ahmedabad Cybercrime police on Thursday and lodged a complaint against the unidentified callers. Police said the fraud began in Jan and continued until this month when the victim’s family became suspicious.The victim received a call on Jan 29 from a person claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The caller alleged that another mobile number was being operated in Mumbai using the victim’s identity, and asked him to provide his personal, family and bank details.The fraudsters claimed his Aadhaar card had been misused. On Feb 1, a woman who identified herself as “Anishka” allegedly instructed him to send a written statement admitting that he had improperly shared his Aadhaar details.The next day, the retiree was allegedly put on a video call with a man dressed as a judge, and two others posing as lawyers, and made to believe he was under official scrutiny in a case.On March 1, in another video call—a fake judge and a person dressed as a police officer—they needed to “verify” his money.On March 23, a caller posing as a CBI official allegedly instructed him to transfer his bank funds to accounts shared over WhatsApp. The victim travelled to Rajkot, broke several fixed deposits and transferred Rs 18 lakh through RTGS. After he had made more transfers, the scammers allegedly asked him to sell his house and send its documents and income tax details.When the victim ran short of funds, he borrowed from his daughter and son-in-law. A relative’s bank account was also used to transfer Rs 5 lakh.The fraudsters later allegedly threatened that his daughter could lose her life if he failed to pay more money. When he sought another Rs 35 lakh from his son-in-law, the family became suspicious and alerted Rajkot police.Cybercrime police then contacted the victim and told him he had been defrauded.
