Court-like background, even a judge visible; an elderly couple loses 42 lakhs after falling into an online scammer's trap

Online Fraud: Nowadays, scammers are using various tactics to cheat people. One of them is digital arrest. Recently, an elderly couple faced a similar situation.

Online Fraud: Nowadays, scammers are adopting various tactics to defraud people. One of them is the digital arrest fraud. In this, the victim is threatened with online arrest, and money is extorted from them. Something similar recently happened to an 84-year-old retired government officer and his wife. However, by taking the right steps in time, they were saved from losing Rs 1.50 crore. The case is from Ahmedabad.

Threatened via phone call

The elderly couple, residing in Ahmedabad, received a WhatsApp call in which the scammer identified himself as a court liaison officer. He said his name was Pradeep Kumar. To trap the elderly man, the scammer told him that he had received information that his name had come up in a money laundering case related to a private airline, involving one of his relatives, and therefore, he would have to appear in an online court. The caller also instructed both the husband and wife not to leave the house or let anyone in.

Video call also received

Every effort was made to ensure that the elderly couple did not suspect anything. They also received a video call from the scammers, which showed a court-like background where a hearing appeared to be taking place. A man was sitting on the screen pretending to be a judge. In addition, a prosecutor and staff were also visible. The person who pretended to be the judge claimed that 227 accounts had been opened in the couple's name and started questioning them about it. When the couple denied this, they were warned that they would face trouble if they did not cooperate.

Elderly couple frightened by the mention of digital arrest

Then the callers told them that they would be placed under 'digital arrest'. During this time, the elderly man was instructed to remain seated in front of the phone, while the woman was told to transfer the money. A relative of the couple also assisted the scammers, explaining to the couple, "The callers told them that they needed to verify all the money they currently had, and only then would they be cleared of the charges. Since they didn't use online banking, they were told to go to the bank for an RTGS transfer."

How the truth was revealed:

On December 9, the woman went to the bank and transferred Rs 21 lakh to the scammers' account. She believed the money would be returned to her account after verification. The next day, she transferred another Rs 21 lakh. She also had Rs 1.5 crore in another account, which she had received after selling a property. The scammers demanded this money as well, saying that if she didn't transfer it, she would face a case and a heavy fine. Frightened, she went to the bank to transfer the entire amount.

The bank manager found the situation suspicious and approached a police officer present at the bank to investigate. The police then went to the couple's home, where they found the elderly husband talking to several men on a video call. When they informed the people on the call that they were police officers, the callers immediately hung up. The police then explained to the couple that they had been scammed and advised them to contact the cybercrime helpline. The couple filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Portal. An FIR is yet to be registered in this case.