AMU professor cheated of ₹75 lakh in ‘digital arrest’ scam

Representative image | Photo credit: PTI

As police said on Sunday (October 13, 2024), a retired professor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was allegedly duped of more than 75 lakhs by fraudsters posing as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and “digitally” for 10 days arrested.”

“On Friday (October 11, 2024), Qamar Jahan filed an FIR and the police immediately alerted the banks concerned. Police found that the money had been routed through 21 different bank accounts,” they said.

“Transactions worth ₹13 lakh were blocked due to police intervention,” they said.

Cyber ​​police station inspector VD Panday, who is investigating the case, said the victim was “digitally arrested for more than 10 days” while the accused pressured Ms Jahan to pay money to avoid arrest.

“Digital arrest” is a new cyber fraud in which the accused pose as officials of a law enforcement agency such as CBI, Customs officials or ED and threaten people with arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international packages containing banned drugs or money laundering cases.

The complainant told police that she received the first call on September 28th. The accused posed as a law enforcement official and informed that she had carried out some dubious transactions that had implicated her in a money laundering case.

To avoid arrest, Ms. Jahan had to deposit some money with the court, the defendant told the victim. He gave her some bank account numbers and the victim complied with the demands and deposited more than ₹75 lakh.

“However, two days ago she felt that she had been cheated and filed a police report,” it said.

Several cases of digital arrests have been reported in the state in recent weeks. The police have advised the public that digital arrest is not planned.