HYDERABAD: An 81-year-old man here was duped of Rs 7.12 crore in a "digital arrest" scam after fraudsters posing as Mumbai Police officers threatened him of involvement in a drug trafficking racket and extorted the amount on the pretext of "verification", police said on Sunday.
The cyber fraudsters called the victim on October 27 last year claiming to be from a courier company and informed that a parcel was sent on his name from Mumbai to Thailand in which MDMA narcotic drug, passports and some debit and credit cards were found.
They further told him that they intercepted the parcel and forwarded the case to Mumbai police.
Later, another caller called him impersonating as an official from Mumbai police and told him that he is involved in a big racket of drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist activities, a police official said.
On the pretext of verification of his bank account details and investments, the caller then demanded him to transfer amount in the accounts provided by them in order to "come out of the case" and that the money will be returned if the old man was found to be innocent. The victim was instructed not to inform anyone about the matter.
The octogenarian transferred Rs 7.12 crore over a period of two months. The offenders then demanded him to transfer another Rs 1.2 crore after which he realised that he was duped by fraudsters and approached the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) on December 30.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered, police said adding the victim earlier did business.
Digital arrest is a fraud where imposters posing as officials of police department or other investigating agencies dupe the victims of money, after confining them via video calls.