Chennai engineering college asst professor held for Rs 3.8 crore digital arrest scam
As per the case file so far, the fraudsters posed as ED officials and claimed that the victim's Aadhaar card was used in a money laundering activity and even sent him a copy of a forged arrest warrant.
Representative Image (File)
CHENNAI: An assistant professor with a city engineering college was arrested by the cybercrime wing of the Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly aiding perpetrators of a digital arrest scam in which they posed as Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths and tricked the victim into paying over Rs 3.8 crore.
As per the case file so far, the fraudsters posed as ED officials and claimed that the victim's Aadhaar card was used in a money laundering activity and even sent him a copy of a forged arrest warrant.
They subjected the petitioner to 'online interrogation', instructing him to transfer funds from his bank account to a ‘supervision account,’ allegedly created to facilitate his release from the ‘arrest’. Only after transferring Rs 3.8 crore did the victim realise he was being conned and filed a police complaint.
The police already arrested five persons in connection with the case. The latest accused P Parasuraman (35), who was an assistant professor at an engineering college in Kodambakkam, was handling the fake bank accounts for the cyber fraudsters.
"Parasuraman played a crucial role in concealing properties belonging to the accused individuals. These properties were received through various delivery applications from previously arrested individuals," an official release stated.
A probe revealed that Parasuraman had been involved in the operations of suspicious accounts and illicit activities for approximately two years, and he received a lump sum commission in exchange, police said.
Digital arrest involves scammers calling potential targets by impersonating as law enforcement officers, typically from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and the Mumbai Police, among others, and fabricate a scenario to instill fear in the minds of the target at the other end of the line.
