India: IIT Bombay student loses $8,000 to fraudsters in ‘digital arrest’ scam

A student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay was duped of Rs 7.29 lakh ($8,633) by fraudsters, who issued a fake ‘digital arrest’ notice and demanded he pay the money. The cybercriminals posed as officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the police said on Tuesday(Nov26).

“The 25-year-old victim received a call from an unknown number in July this year. The caller posed as an employee of the TRAI and informed him that 17 complaints of illegal activities were registered against his mobile number,” an official of the Powai police station in Mumbai said as pernews agency PTI.

The victim was told by the scammer that he was required to obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the police to prevent his number from getting deactivated and his call would be transferred to the Cyber Crime Branch.

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The student then received a video call on WhatsApp where a man who was dressed as a police officer demanded his Aadhar card number. The fraudster told him that he was involved in money laundering and pressed him into transferring Rs 29,500 ($3,493) through the unified payments interface (UPI), according to the police.

The accused told the victim he was put under a digital arrest and was not allowed to contact anyone. The next day, the scammers called him again, demanding more money. They also coerced the man into giving up his bank account details, after which the tricksters siphoned Rs 7 lakh ($8,000) from his bank account. After the payment was made, the victim was told that would not face any arrest, the police said.

Later, the student realised he had been duped by the scammers after learning about the digital arrest, prompting him to lodge a complaint with the police against the scammers.

In August, a woman from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, was duped of Rs 34 lakh ($40,000) by cybercriminals in a similar “digital arrest”, who claimed that a parcel sent from Mumbai to Iran in her name had been seized by the officials.

Amid the rise of such digital arrest scams, earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned citizens to beware of such phone or video calls as no investigation agency conducts interrogations in such a manner. “Stop, think and act,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)