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News Topical, Digital Desk : Cyber fraudsters duped an elderly couple of Rs 2.4 crore after keeping them under "digital arrest" for 11 days in Kanhangad in Kerala's Kasargod district, police said on Thursday. In "digital arrest", cyber criminals pose as fake government officials and extort huge sums of money from people through video calls. According to police, the victims are a 69-year-old retired teacher and his 72-year-old wife, a retired government homeopathy doctor. The couple lives alone in a rented house in Kanhangad.
Retired teacher told the whole story
"On the morning of August 10, my wife received a call from an international number. When I picked up the phone, a man speaking in Hindi claimed to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He said my wife was involved in a money laundering case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and an officer from the agency would contact them soon," the retired teacher said. A few minutes later, the couple received a WhatsApp video call. "There was a man in police uniform on the screen who asked us to keep calm. Soon a translator joined the call and started translating from Hindi to Malayalam," he said.
Fraudsters showed fake Aadhaar card
They claimed that my wife's identity card and bank details were recovered during a raid at the residence of former Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal. As proof, they also showed an ATM card, though the details were not clear. They alleged that there were financial transactions between Goyal and my wife.'' The retired teacher said that when they denied having any account in the bank shown, the fraudsters showed a fake Aadhaar card in his name.
The deception of online hearing through video call
"They ordered us to stay in front of the mobile phone with the video call on all the time. We had to take permission from the person on the screen even for basic needs. My wife had to take permission even to go to the doctor," he said. He said that on August 12, the fraudsters told him that their case would be heard online in the CBI court in Mumbai.
2.4 crore fraudulently imposed
"We were shown a court room where a judge and lawyers were present. When the judge came in, we were instructed to stand up. Our names were called and some discussions took place, but we could not understand what was being said," he said. Later, they were told that their bank accounts needed to be "verified". Between August 19 and 21, the couple transferred Rs 2.4 crore in four transactions as instructed, he said. The Kasaragod cyber police registered a case on August 22 under sections 316(4) of the Indian Justice Code and section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.
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