New Delhi: Cyber ??thugs posing as ED and CBI officials have 'digitally arrested' a retired banker in south Delhi's Gulmohar Park area for about a month and duped him of Rs 23 crore, an official said.
The accused allegedly told the victim that his Aadhaar card was involved in drug trafficking, terror funding and the Pulwama terror attack. The thugs confined the man to his flat on the pretext of investigation.
"The thugs instructed him not to step out of the house and forced him to transfer his savings to different bank accounts within a month," the official said.
According to the police, the 78-year-old victim said in his complaint that the incident began on August 4 when he received a call from a person claiming to be a Mumbai Police officer. The caller accused him of being involved in a drug smuggling racket. Later, the fraudsters also approached him posing as ED and CBI officials.
The officer added, “Out of fear, the victim followed their instructions and kept transferring money from his bank accounts to the accounts specified by the fraudsters. The accused also threatened the victim of dire consequences if she disclosed the matter to anyone.”
This continued till September 4, after which the fraudsters stopped contacting him. Realising that he had been duped, he lodged a complaint on the NCRP portal on September 19, following which the case was transferred to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations Unit.
An FIR has been registered and ?12.11 crore of the duped amount has been frozen in various bank accounts, the police said. Police officials said, "The entire matter is under investigation. Several teams are already working on it and the case will be solved soon."