Mumbai: A retired BMC official fell prey to a scammer in digital arrest fraud and lost over Rs51 lakh. According to the police, the 59-year-old complainant, a resident of Dombivali, retired from the BMC’s health department last year.
On January 17, she received a WhatsApp call from a person who claimed to be from Colaba police station. The caller shared a photograph of a man stating that the said person had used the complainant’s bank account to commit fraud.
The caller also told him that her family had a threat from the said person. Later, the complainant received a video call from a person wearing a police uniform.
The caller told the victim that there were several cases in her name and if she wanted to settle those cases then she would have to pay money. The next day, the scammer shared a bogus arrest warrant, court summons and beneficiary bank account details with the complainant over WhatsApp.
Between January 18 and 20, the complainant was induced to send Rs51.35 lakh in two online transactions in two different beneficiary bank accounts.
The scammer had assured the woman that once the cases on her are closed the money will be returned to her. However, despite calling several times, when the scammer did not respond to her calls, she realised that she had been duped and approached the Thane police last week.
A case has been registered under sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
