Noida: A retired NTPC employee was allegedly cheated of Rs 85 lakh by fraudsters who claimed to put him under ‘digital arrest’ for 16 days. The victim received a call on April 7 from people posing as officials from Bengaluru cyber cell, claiming his Aadhaar-linked mobile number had been used in illegal activities. The fraudsters escalated the threat by linking him to a fake CBI case involving money laundering and child trafficking.According to the FIR filed with Cyber Crime police, the 84-year-old was connected to two people who identified themselves as Sandeep Dhewan and Praveen Kumar from the Ashok Nagar police station in Bengaluru. The scammers told him that the case against him for the mobile phone purchase was “absolved”, but that he was linked to cases of money laundering and child trafficking.According to police, the scammers interrogated the complainant on his finances over two days. They then informed him that the Supreme Court constituted a committee of CBI officials to investigate the matter. He was threatened that he would be handcuffed and that his flat and financial assets would be seized. He was also warned not to say anything to his wife.During this period, the complainant was told his case was assigned to ‘CBI SP’ Praveen Kumar. The scammers extracted details regarding his bank accounts and ascertained the exact balance held in each account. They then coerced him into transferring funds from his bank accounts.He was forced to transfer a total of Rs 85 lakh across two transactions under the pretext of a “money trail verification”.He was then told that if the investigation proved his innocence, his money would be returned to him.The complainant alleged that the accused pretending to be the ‘CBI SP’ spoke to him for the last time on April 22. He produced a verification letter from the CBI, which stated that the complainant was also a suspect. The accused then demanded Rs 1.24 crore to spare the complainant from being handcuffed and to prevent the confiscation of his property.When the complainant told them he did not possess such a large sum of money, he and his wife were threatened with arrest. At this point, he grew suspicious and filed a report at the Cyber Crime Police Station on Sunday.An FIR has been registered under BNS sections 308(2) (extortion), 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) and sections 66 and 66D of the IT Act. Further investigation is underway, police said.
