Lucknow: Cyber fraudsters posing as officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) allegedly kept a retired Zilla Panchayat accounts officer under “digital arrest” for nearly a month and extorted Rs 78 lakh from him by threatening to frame him in a national security case.
Under pressure, he transferred Rs 50 lakh from his Punjab National Bank account and Rs 18 lakh from his Indian Bank account.
The victim, Raj Kumar Srivastava, told police he was intimidated with arrest and legal action on accusations of sharing confidential information with Pakistani military officials and their associates, along with allegations of money laundering. Police said the callers convinced Srivastava that transferring money to accounts provided by them was necessary to “resolve” the case and avoid detention. Cybercrime police station in-charge Satyaprakash Yadav said an FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and other applicable provisions.
After the final transfer, the accused stopped taking his calls, prompting him to approach the cybercrime police station. Two police teams have been deployed to trace the accused and track the money trail.