Padma awardee's digital arrest: WhatsApp calls from Cambodia, money sent to Tokyo and Singapore, say Chennai police

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) on Monday said that the probe into the digital arrest of Padma Bhushan T Ramasami (77), former secretary, Department of Science and Technology, revealed that the Whatsapp calls to his number originated in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ramasami, a Chennai-based eminent scientist, lost half a crore (Rs 57 lakh) to cyber frauds in September, and GCP's cyber crime wing registered a case last month. DT Next had reported about the senior citizen's ordeal in the Sunday edition.

Digital arrest involves scammers impersonating law enforcement officers, typically from Mumbai Police, Delhi Police, and Enforcement Directorate (ED), among others, and calling potential targets and fabricating a scenario to instill fear in the minds of the person at the other end of the line.

In the case of Ramasami, the scammers showed him a copy of his Aadhaar and claimed it was misused by criminals. They also shared his personal details to convince him they were law enforcement. The Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee even had to seek permission from the digital captors to travel to receive a lifetime achievement award.

Eventually, he was coerced into transferring all his funds to a fake Reserve Bank account for "verification." The frauds assured him that if the funds were found genuine, they would be returned to his account, and he ended up transferring his savings and fixed deposits, police said.

GCP Commissioner A Arun cautioned the public to remain alert about such fake calls, high-profit investment advertisements, fake investment apps, websites and advised people not to transfer money to unknown bank accounts.