In a recent case of digital fraud, a 26-year-old Bengaluru-based techie woman Sheetal Gupta lost ₹25.5 lakh to cybercriminals. A native of Uttar Pradesh, she has been working as a software engineer in a reputed IT company for over three years.
On 24th November, Sunday afternoon, while lightening up on the weekend Sheetal received an automated IVR call posing as calling from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and informing her about her Adhar card and phone number being misused. For that, she needs to call upon the Delhi Cybercrime Wing to file a complaint. It also commanded her to press No. 1 for further details, on doing this, the call got transferred to someone claiming to be from Delhi Cybercrime.
He also informed her that her phone number and Aadhar card were being misused to facilitate an illegal transaction of around ₹68 lakhs and had been used to carry out the criminal offense of abducting 17 kids out of which one was killed for organs to be sold in international markets. He also spoke her Aadhar number, and that the case was also being investigated by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and Cybercrime cell, on which she was somehow convinced.
Then arrived a WhatsApp video call from a fake police inspector identifying himself as Sunil Tiwari, all dressed up in police uniform with a national and police flag in the background and sitting on a table. He started interrogating and convincing Sheetal and convinced in his pursuit while offering two options, first, the Delhi police team would arrive at his place and arrest her for three months at Connaught Place station, and second, Sheetal would be under digital surveillance until CBI and Cybercrime cell clears her of all the charges.
Ultimately, she opted for the second option and informed her office to work from home and did not tell about the digital arrest to anyone and kept the WhatsApp video call on even while sleeping as she was told to do so. She was also commanded to write a letter to CBI about her innocence and that her details had been misused and an acceptance for digital surveillance.
In two days of digital surveillance, she gave all her personal and professional details and on the third and fourth days, she was inquired about her finances, on which, she said that she had not liquid, rather she had invested in mutual funds and share trading. Then scamsters sent an RBI notice stating she needed to declare all her financial holdings as part of the inquiry. She read out loud the message sent by RBI as instructed, writing that she has to transfer all her finances to a CBI-hold account, and after investigation, all her funds will be redirected to her account. She was then convinced to liquidate all her shares, which she did, and was instructed to visit the bank. The perpetrators assured her that any losses incurred during the liquidation would be compensated by the government once her innocence was proven.
On the fourth day, all her funds and shared liquidated and credited into her account an amount of ₹25.5 lakh. On her bank visit, the bank initiated for RTGS transfer of the amount. To cultivate ₹68 lakh rupees, the scammers asked her to take the help of friends and family to come clean out of the case. This is when Sheetal suspected the confidentiality of the call and argued back.
Meanwhile, Sheetal told one of her colleagues about the incident and realized that she had been duped. Then she told her sister about the whole story and both the sisters approached the cybercrime police of Bengaluru. All while on the WhatsApp video call with the criminal, as he still wanted her whereabouts.
The Bengaluru police filed an FIR based on her complaint and started an investigation. They revealed that her ₹25.5 lakh was transferred to six different bank accounts. The police informed that if the victims file a complaint within hours of being duped, chances are there to get in touch with RBI and freeze the receiver’s account. However, usually, the scammers keep their prey engaged with different tactics until they complete the transaction of the money into other accounts.
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