look news india
Mumbai – A 77-year-old man from South Mumbai was put under ‘digital arrest’ for a month by a cyber fraud gang. Further, the cyber swindlers identified themselves as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and alleged the elders’ involvement in a money laundering case and sent mephedrone in a parcel abroad in the amount of Rs. Ransom of Rs 3.80 crore was recovered.
A month ago, the elderly man received a WhatsApp call from a stranger who alleged that he had sent mephedrone, five passports, a bank card and clothes in a parcel to Taiwan.
A housewife who lives with her retired husband in South Mumbai told the caller, ‘They have not sent any parcel. Then the accused said that his Aadhar card was used in the crime.
After this the caller pretended to get the elderly man to talk to a Mumbai Police officer. A fake police officer claimed that the elderly man’s Aadhaar card was linked to a money laundering case.
The cyber thug asked the elderly man to download the Skype app. He was ordered not to disconnect the call and not to give information about the case to anyone because police officers would talk to him.
Later, a man identified himself as an IPS officer and asked for the bank account details of the elderly man. Another man pressured him to transfer money to his bank account.
The gang assured the old man that they would return the money if he was found not involved in the crime. To gain the trust of the old man he transferred the money. The cyber gang returned Rs 15 lakh, after which they asked the victim to transfer all the money from her joint account with her husband. Rs 3.80 crore were transferred, the official said.
The accused did not return the money to him and demanded more money in the name of tax. Therefore the complainant became suspicious.
The old man called his daughter living abroad and informed her about the incident. Then complained in cyber helpline number 1930. Subsequently, investigators have frozen six accounts of the accused, into which the elderly man had transferred money. The crime branch is investigating the case further.