Hyderabad: In separate incidents, two people from the city lost over Rs 1.7 crore to digital arrest fraud. In the first incident, a 58-year-old govt employee from Bachupally lost Rs 1.33 crore to fraudsters posing as CBI officials. On Jan 9, the victim, an engineer, received a call from an unidentified individual claiming to be a CBI officer. The caller accused the victim of sending obscene photos to women.The next day, the same caller connected the victim to others who claimed to be senior CBI officers. They alleged that a Canara Bank debit card seized during a raid in Mumbai linked him to a Rs 3 crore human trafficking and money-laundering racket.Threatening arrest, the fraudsters forced the victim to undergo ‘digital verification’ of his finances to prove his innocence. Following their instructions, between Jan 17 and March 10, the victim transferred over Rs 1.3 crore to different bank accounts in eight transactions. “In the name of national security, they kept a constant watch on me by calling me every two hours. They asked me to continuously share my location and even made WhatsApp video calls with a backdrop resembling a CBI office,” the victim told police.When the fraudsters did not return his money even after a month and stopped all communication, the victim approached the Cyberabad police on Thursday. A case was registered under relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Act.In the second case, a 78-year-old retired private employee from Secunderabad received a call on Feb 22 from a fraudster claiming to be from the Delhi police’s crime branch. Alleging that the victim’s bank and Aadhaar details were linked to a money-laundering racket, the caller showed him fake Supreme Court orders, as well as forged ED and Interpol notices. “On the video call, they showed me a fake setting resembling a police office and a courtroom. One person even posed as a judge,” the victim said.Following their instructions, the victim liquidated his fixed deposits and transferred over Rs 46 lakh between Feb 27 and March 3 in three transactions. The fraud came to light in the first week of April when the victim visited his bank and discussed the transactions with bank officials. Based on his complaint, Hyderabad cybercrime police registered a case under relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Act on Thursday.
