Noida: A 72-year-old man from Greater Noida was cheated of Rs 1 crore in a “digital arrest” cyber fraud, police said.An FIR was filed at the cyber crime police station on March 12 after the man lodged a complaint on the NCRP portal.The complainant said he received a phone call on Feb 6 from a person posing as an official of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The cybercon introduced himself as Ajay Kumar and claimed that a SIM issued by the septuagenarian was being used in criminal activities and for sending obscene videos. He said that the matter was being looked into by the CBI and directed the complainant to fly down to Mumbai within the next couple of hours. When he said he would not be able to make it on such short notice, He, then received a video call. The fraudster told the man that until the investigation was concluded, he would be kept under “digital arrest”. He then alleged that the complainant had sold his Canara bank account to Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal for Rs 5 lakh. The scammer said that the account was used to park Rs 2 crore, for which Goyal paid the complainant 10% of the amount.Goyal was arrested by ED in Sept 2023 under Prevention of Money Laundering Act for an alleged fraud of 538 crore at Canara Bank.“Subsequently, on the video call, I was shown what appeared to be a courtroom set up. A person dressed as a judge told another man in a police uniform to take me into custody,” the complainant said. However, the “police officer” requested the “judge” not to arrest him, for he was cooperative and a senior citizen. The fraudsters then told the complainant that his savings from all his bank accounts needed to be transferred to the “authorities” for supposed verification. He was assured that once the money was verified, they would return the money to him. Within two weeks, the complainant had transferred Rs 1.3 crore to various accounts. By March 12, when the money was not returned, he realised that he had been cheated and filed a complaint.The case has been filed under BNS sections 308(2) (extortion), 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation), and Section 66D of the IT Act.
