Family of 3 'digitally arrested' for 5 days, duped of Rs 1cr

A family in Noida was duped of over Rs 1 crore after they were kept under 'digital arrest' for five days by some unknown people who posed as government officials, police said on Monday.

'Digital arrest' is a new cyber fraud, where the accused pose as law enforcement agency officials, like CBI or customs officials, and threatens people of arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international parcels of banned drugs, they said.

According to police, they received a complaint from Chandrabhan Paliwal that he had received a call from an unknown number on February 1. The caller asked him to contact the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and threatened to block his SIM card.

The caller told the complainant that his case was with the Cyber Crime Branch of Mumbai and about 10 minutes later a person claiming to be an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer made a 'video call' to Paliwal from Mumbai's Kolava Police Station, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber ??Crime) Preeti Yadav said.

Paliwal said that the fake police officer accused him of extorting money and said that 24 cases were registered against him at different locations. The caller also said that the CBI was investigating the matter of money laundering, the DCP said.

Paliwal told the police that his wife and daughter were also digitally arrested after they received video calls. The callers threatened that if they did not pay the amount, they would be arrested soon, DCP said.

Yadav said that the complainant had paid Rs 1.10 crore to the accused in five days. A case was registered and further investigation is underway.