Pune: Cybercrooks posed as a DGP of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as well as crime branch personnel to dupe a retired state govt official (80) of Rs19 lakh in a digital arrest fraud in Nov last year.The victim’s son filed an online complaint. After preliminary investigations, a case was registered with the Dighi police on Wednesday.Sub-inspector Dipak Rahane of the Dighi police said, according to the complainant, his father received an unknown call in Nov last year. The caller claimed that he was an official from the Mumbai crime branch. The fraudster told the victim that using the latter’s Aadhaar details, as many as 247 debit cards of a bank were obtained, which were being used to cheat people. “The caller also told the elderly man that the latter was a member of a gang and has been involved in money laundering,” he said.He said the crook also contacted the victim via a video call and shared a notice from the enforcement directorate and claimed that a case was registered against the elderly man before sharing a copy with him. The crook told the victim that the department possessed all the details regarding the victim’s gang and shared these alleged details with the 80-year-old.“The caller then threatened the victim to not discuss anything about the case with anyone in the family or friends, or else they would arrest him,” the officer said.He said the victim also received another such call from a person claiming to be a DGP-level officer of the ACB. “This time, the caller assured the victim of shielding him from arrest and told him to transfer money to the ‘Supreme Court Fund’. The bogus officer took details of the victim’s bank balance and told him to transfer Rs19 lakh to a bank account. He also promised to return the money after verification,” Rahane said.“When the elderly man did not get his money back, he informed his son. Our investigations are on,” the police officer said.
