Retd. Scientist Loses Rs 1.34 Crore in Digital Arrest Scam

Hyderabad: A retired chief scientist was duped of Rs 1.34 crore after fraudsters posed as a Supreme Court judge and staged a trial-like setup to scare him. The Rachakonda cybercrime wing has registered a case following a complaint lodged by the victim.

According to Circle Inspector Kashinath, the complainant, Shivendranath Ray, resides in Uppal. On May 21, he received a phone call claiming to be from the telecom department in Bengaluru. The caller claimed the victim had money laundering and human trafficking cases registered against him at the Ashokanagar police station in Bengaluru.

The fraudsters told him that a CID officer, Sandeep Rai, would be contacting him for further questioning. Sandeep Rai told the victim that his Aadhaar credentials had been misused by a man named Sadaqat Khan, who had been arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi. The victim was further told that while investigating Sadaqat, his Aadhar number had surfaced.

To further intimidate the victim, the fraudsters shared a forged document with him, which consisted of logos of the Supreme Court, the Delhi and Karnataka police and the CID.

He was also told he was placed under a ‘digital arrest’ and was later forced to get into a video call with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), and asked to wear white clothes. Another fraudster directed the victim to transfer the lost amount to free himself of all the charges.

On June 2, the victim transferred Rs 2 lakh, while he made two transactions of Rs 25 lakh on June 3, through RTGS.

However, two days later, on June 5, he realised he was duped. On the next day, on June 6, he complained with the Rachakonda cybercrime police. A case was registered, and a request for freezing the money has been sent to the banks