Karnataka govt employee digitally arrested for six hours, robbed of Rs 19 lakh

Tumakuru (Karnataka): A state government employee fell victim to cybercriminals and was robbed of Rs 19 lakh after being digitally arrested for six hours in Tumakuru district of Karnataka, police said on Tuesday.

B.S. Nagabhushan, the government employee residing in Upparahalli in Tumakuru lodged a complaint with the Cyber Police wing.

According to police, the accused had called the victim officer on the phone and introduced himself as a staffer from the Mumbai Crime Branch. The accused further charged that the money had been transferred illegally from his account.

The fraudster had claimed that there was another SIM card in the name of the victim and through that SIM card people were harassed. The various persons of the gang who spoke to him threatened that his property would be seized in connection with both cases. They also told him that he would also be arrested.

After boxing him in, the accused made a video call to Nagabhushan and appeared in police uniform. The accused issued more threats and asked him not to inform the matter to anyone.

The accused had made a call at 8.30 a.m. and kept him engaged for six hours in the video conference call. In the pretext of investigation, they enquired about his bank accounts and deposits. The victim had given details about the fixed deposits in the name of his wife.

The fraudsters then forced him him to transfer the amount to other bank accounts which they gave him and maintained that the whole amount would be returned to him once the investigation was complete.

The victim transferred Rs 19 lakh to the fraudsters’ account through RTGS. Once the money transfer was done the accused disconnected the call after maintaining that they would verify the accounts and get back to him in 30 minutes and never called him back.

The victim then approached the police and complained in this regard.

In another incident, a software professional lost Rs 11 crore after falling victim to digital arrest in Bengaluru on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, the cyber fraudsters disguised themselves as police officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and committed the crime. The victim was identified as 39-year-old Vijaykumar, who works with a reputed IT company in Bengaluru.

The case has been registered in this regard with the North East Cybercrime, Economic Offences, Narcotics (CEN) police station in Bengaluru.

The victim was told that a case was registered under his name in Mumbai's Colaba police station and they found that a cash transfer was made using his Aadhaar number.