Nagpur: A 76-year-old former school headmaster was allegedly duped of around Rs65 lakh this week after cyber fraudsters posing as police officers convinced him that his bank account had been used for a Rs2 crore transaction linked to terrorist activities and that he could be arrested at any moment, police said.
The complainant eventually approached the police on Sept 30, following which the cybercrime unit registered the case and began tracing the financial trail and phone numbers used by the accused. The fraudsters contacted the elderly and introduced themselves as police officials, according to the complaint.
The victim, a resident of Hiwari Nagar, approached police after realising that he had fallen victim to a sophisticated “digital arrest” scam. They allegedly told him that an account had been opened in his name and that transactions worth Rs2 crore had been carried out through it. Police said the fraudsters subsequently forced him to transfer money from his bank account to different accounts on several occasions.
He was trying to make further payments by liquidating a fixed deposit, but the action was curtailed after his daughter came to know about it. The police have registered a case under provisions relating to cheating, identity-related fraud, forgery, use of forged documents and common intention, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act dealing with identity theft and cheating. The accused allegedly claimed that the money was connected to terrorist activities. By threatening him with immediate arrest, they allegedly kept the elderly complainant under their control and convinced him to follow their instructions to avoid being arrested. Police are examining the bank accounts into which the money was transferred and the software used by the fraudsters.