76-yr-old ex-I-T officer loses 97L to digital arrest fraud
Times of India | 5 February 2025
Kolkata: A 76-year-old former employee of a health and technology MNC residing at Lake Gardens has lost Rs 97 lakh to digital arrest. The cyber cell at Lalbazar, along with local police, have started a probe.
The victim, identified as Rita Das, is a retired Income Tax chief commercial officer. The torture started from Jan 21, with the fraudsters posing as GPO and CBI officers. They asked her to keep her tab switched on 24 hours a day, forced her to fill out questionnaires and apply for "settlements" on plain paper almost two to three times a day. The accused managed to convince her using fake stamps and seals. Most of the transactions were completed through RTGS.
Das broke down on Tuesday after the fraudsters demanded another Rs 50 lakh for settlement. All the while, she did not even let her 89-year-old bed-ridden husband know that she was under digital arrest. When both her banks called to enquire why she was transferring so much money, she said she was under distress and would explain to them after the second week of Feb.
"On Jan 21, one Priya Sharma called me, allegedly from GPO customer service, regarding tracking some consignment number from the US. The scammers, led by individuals identifying themselves as Vikram Kumar and senior investigator Vijay Sharma, and posing as employees of GPO and one Rakesh Kumar of CBI, claimed that a fraud suspect named Rakesh Gupta was arrested in Delhi with the victim's bank documents. The fraudsters threatened me with arrest unless I was kept under surveillance, citing money laundering and kidnapping charges. They said that they could not travel to Kolkata from Delhi. They targeted both my accounts, saying the money was required to secure bail and to stay away from arrest," Rita told TOI.