- 75-year-old cancer patient lost Rs 2 crore Delhi home.
- Duped by fraudsters posing as CBI and ED officers.
- Scam involved digital arrest, gold mortgage, property sale.
A 75-year-old cancer patient lost her Rs 2 crore home in Delhi along with her life savings and jewellery in a digital arrest scam after the cyber fraud spilt outside the digital realm to her doorstep.
It all started with a phone call on her landline on April 6, where the callers introduced themselves as CBI and ED officers. The two accused told her that her mobile number was linked to another number which was used to launder money. Panicked, the woman entered into a trap that lasted 2 days and cost her almost all her belongings, according to a report by NDTV.
She allegedly told the fraudsters that she didn't know about the procedure to file a complaint. On the pretext of helping her, the fraudsters made a video call on her WhatsApp number. The fraudsters were in police uniform on the call.
The attire convinced the woman that she was in trouble. The woman was forced to maintain a continuous video call, where she was intimidated with a threat of arrest along with her children within the next 30 minutes.
She was further told not to discuss the matter with anyone as it pertained to 'national security'. One of the fake officers, who posed as from the CBI, told another fraudster that she appeared innocent and that he would talk to her separately.
As threat and intimidation had worked, the woman was directed to transfer money to them. The woman visited Vasant Kunj's Bank of Maharashtra and transferred Rs 3 lakh.
The accused asked her about the jewellery details and forced her to mortgage 83.5 grams of gold, including two bangles, a chain, a chain with a locket, and four studs, to Muthoot Fincorp. The woman took a loan of Rs 4,95, 250 and transferred it to the fraudsters.
The woman pleaded to be left alone, but the digital arrest then turned uglier as the fraudsters told her the rest of the work would be done at her home.
The fraudsters informed her that an authorised property dealer would visit her regarding her Rs 2 crore home.
On April 8, the woman received a call from a person named Sushant Kumar, who informed her about his visit. On April 13, he visited the property and left with all original documents without any receipt.
Two days later, Kumar visited the property again with buyers, Anil Kapoor, and witness Praveen Chadha. She was made to sign an advance receipt-cum-agreement to sell the house.
After a gap of another two days, two cheques, worth Rs 23 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, were deposited in the woman's bank account. The same day, Rs 21 lakh was withdrawn, while Rs 3 lakh was withdrawn the next day.
The amount was transferred to an account named Savitri Bai Phule Educational Welfare Society. After a final call on April 23, the woman suspected to have been defrauded.
She asked Kumar if he had received any calls from officials. As Kumar responded in the negative, the two reached out to the police, and an e-FIR was lodged on April 27.
The same day, her daughter Radhika Ralhani made a video call to her from the Netherlands. Finding her terrified and with an unknown man, she asked her to reach out to the police.
Kumar tricked too?
On April 29, Radhika arrived in Delhi and visited Kumar, asking for the property documents. She alleged that Kumar demanded Rs 24 lakh in exchange for returning the documents.
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The NDTV report cited Kumar saying that he was approached by a person named Nitin, who told him that her mother needed to sell her property and was ill. He claimed that the elderly victim had herself made a call to him.
Radhika took the matter to the Delhi High Court, demanding a CBI investigation. The Delhi Police filed a status report in the court, submitting that no role of Kumar was found in the fraud. The investigation has revealed that a gang based out of Cambodia was behind the fraud.