Digital arrest scammers tap victims’ fear, demand ‘everything is fine’ hourly texts, online statements | Mumbai News

Three individuals in Mumbai fell prey to digital scams, resulting in significant monetary loss. A homemaker, a senior citizen, and a content writer were targeted by fraudsters posing as authorities.

MUMBAI: What could a homemaker from Vile Parle, a senior citizen from Kandivli, and a content writer from Versova have in common? All three were victims of digital detention scams, where fraudsters wiped out lakhs of rupees from their savings.
The most startling case, perhaps, is that of the homemaker who was told by a fraudster to send him an hourly text that read “Everything is fine” as an assurance that she was following his instructions. She received a call from a man posing as a Delhi crime branch officer who told her that she was booked in 17 offences of harassment.
He added that a female victim in one of the cases died by suicide, and therefore, she would face charges of abetment. Later, the fraudster made a video call and instructed the homemaker to neither speak to anyone else nor log on to the social media. She was asked to keep the video call on 24×7 and send hourly texts that read “Everything is fine,” else a police van posted near her house would arrest her family.
She followed his instructions for two days and then the fraudster told her to transfer Rs 1 lakh, which he claimed would be refunded post-probe. She never heard from him again. An FIR was registered on Oct 10.
In the second case, the senior citizen was accused of money laundering by a scammer who claimed he was from the Telecom Regulatory Authority and would be deactivating her phone number in two hours. He convinced her to give an “online statement” to get her name cleared. Later, she received a letter with the ‘RBI letterhead’, asking her to pay money to close the case. She transferred Rs 9.5 lakh. An FIR was registered on Oct 16.
In the latest FIR registered on Tuesday, a content writer was duped of Rs 1.6 lakh by a scammer claiming to be a police officer who could “ruin his career by arresting him”. The fraudster told him that his Aadhaar card, name, mobile number, and email address were compromised over the dark web. When the content writer said he couldn’t appear in person before police, the scammer offered to carry out a “digital verification”.
The man, dressed in a khaki uniform, called him over Skype, collected his Aadhaar card copies before informing him that he was facing a money-laundering case, and sent him a fake arrest warrant copy.
When accused of receiving illegal money, the victim sent screenshots of his bank account. He later transferred Rs 1.6 lakh on being told the amount was refundable.