Gurugram Police arrests man from Ludhiana for digital arrest scam

Gurugram, Sep 1 (PTI) The cyber crime wing of Gurugram Police has arrested a 22-year-old fraudster from Ludhiana in Punjab for allegedly duping a man through a ‘digital arrest' scam, officials said on Monday.

“The accused, identified as Shiva, returned to India from Laos on August 14. Our team arrested him from his house in Vijay Nagar in Ludhiana on August 27. His passport and mobile phone have been seized,” Priyanshu Dewan, ACP (cybercrime), said.

According to police, Shiva went to Laos in March, from where he allegedly duped the victim by placing him under digital arrest after impersonating officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the police.

Digital arrest is a form of cyber fraud where criminals impersonate law enforcement or government officials to extort money from the victims.

According to police, a Gurugram local filed a complaint on May 15 claiming that he received a phone call wherein the caller introduced himself as an employee of TRAI, and said his number was being used for illegal activities.

Claiming that a case has been registered against the complainant at the Colaba police station in Mumbai, the caller made him talk to a fake police officer, police said.

“The fake police officer said my name cropped up in a money laundering case and that a warrant had been issued for my arrest. He then placed me under digital arrest. To bail myself out of the situation, I transferred money following the direction of the fake police officer,” the complainant told police.

Following a probe, the cybercrime unit of Gurugram Police arrested the accused from Ludhiana on August 27. He has been sent to eight-day police remand by a city court, officials said.

During interrogation, Shiva revealed that out of the defrauded amount, Rs 50,000 was transferred to the account of his brother Manav, who had been arrested earlier. Shiva also said that he sold Manav’s bank account to another person for Rs 10,000, police said.

“The accused claimed he was under financial stress. He first went to Cambodia, from where he defrauded people by placing them under digital arrest. When police raided Cambodia, he went to Laos in March, where he worked at a call centre run by people of Chinese origin," the ACP said. PTI COR ARI