Bhubaneswar: A former officer of the Indian Navy from Odisha has been defrauded Rs 1.8 Crore through digital arrest scam by a cybercriminal, who identified himself as an official of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
According to sources, the former Navy officer of Surya Narayanpur are under the Bellagam police station limits of Ganjam district reportedly got a call on November 13 from an known person, who identified himself as an official of TRAI.
In course of their conversation, the caller said to the ex-serviceman that his mobile number will be blocked within two hours as TRAI has noticed some illegal transactions of huge amount of money through his phone number and there is a serious crime behind the transaction. He urged the ex-serviceman to press 1 on his mobile’s dialer to talk to the senior officials of the TRIA to get more information about the suspicious criminal activities.
The caller also threatened the former Naval officer saying that Delhi police would arrest him soon if he does not do what he is told to do. In order to avoid the possible arrest, the Naval officer reportedly shared his bank account number and ATM card details with the caller through WhatsApp.
After getting the bank account number of the ex-serviceman, the caller further fooled him saying that illegal transactions have been made through the same account number and threatened him to send some money to avoid police arrest.
Finding no other way and not knowing what to do next, the former serviceman reportedly sent him around Rs 1.8 Crore in four installments-Rs 33 lakh, 45 lakh, Rs 28 lakh and 2 lakh.
However, the cybercriminal switched of his mobile phone soon after getting Rs 1.8 Crore from the former officer. It is only after failing to contact the caller despite repeated attempts, the former serviceman realized that he fell prey to the digital arrest scam. Later, he filed a case with the Cuttack Cyber Police station.
A special team of the Cyber Police station is said to have initiated an investigation into the digital arrest scam, however, chances of recovering the ex-serviceman’s money seems too vey very slim.
Meanwhile, they advised people not to get threatened when get such digital arrest scam call from any unknown persons or share any information with them.
This is the second such digital arrest scam case which came to the fore in Odisha within three days. Earlier on February 25, Berhampur: Berhampur University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Geetanjali Dash lost over Rs 14 lakh after falling prey to digital arrest scam.
