Delhi Family Loses Rs 8 Lakh To 'Digital Arrest' Scam, 4 Arrested

The Cyber police station of New Delhi's North District busted a cyber racket accused of impersonating as Telecom department, CBI, and ED officials and extorting Rs 8.10 Lakh from a woman, according to Delhi Police officials.

According to Deputy Commissioner Raja Banthia on Tuesday, the accused held the woman, along with her daughter and father, virtually hostage for 48 hours and extorted Rs 8.10 lakh in exchange for removing her name from the fake cases they claimed to have against her.

According to the FIR, on March 24, the complainant said that she received a call from an unknown number claiming to be from Delhi's Telecom Department. The caller threatened her with using a fake SIM card.

"Further, she received video calls from some unknown WhatsApp numbers stating themselves to be from the ED and CBI departments. The fraudsters threatened the lady complainant regarding her involvement in some money laundering case and threatened her to be arrested," read the Deputy Commissioner's statement.

Officials said that the accused sent the woman forged documents from the CBI and ED, with stamps from the Supreme Court, between March 5 and March 7, subjecting her family to a 'digital arrest'.

The preliminary investigation conducted by North District Cyber police traced the call to Zamrudpur, East of Kailash, and Greater Kailash areas. The police subsequently raided the locations after obtaining call record details and tracing the money, which led to the arrest of three accused--Raja Mandal (27), who was the Account Holder, Tushar Thapa (23), and Saurabh Tiwari (23), both Account Providers/Agents--on March 31 and the seizure of four mobile phones.

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that the victim in this case has been duped in a very professional and systematic manner. A technical surveillance and manual intelligence have been developed continuously," said North district police's Dy Commissioner.

On March 3, raids in the Chanakyapuri and R K Puram area also led to the arrest of another person, Anup Kumar Tiwari (23), and the seizure of another mobile phone.

"He was interrogated in detail and revealed that he also obtained around 18 lacs rupees in his account. Moreover, the accused got slipped from the spot after leaving their Car, Mahindra Thar there," Police said.

Deputy Commissioner Banthia said that the Tiwari had opened bank accounts on others directions, while also receiving commission for his work of being an Account Holder.

The investigation of this case is in progress and efforts are going on to nab the escape co-accused persons.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)