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New Delhi: The rise of technology has led to a revolution in our society. While it has made a lot of things easier for us, technological advancement has its pitfalls. One of them is the increase in digital arrests, a fraudulent scam in which perpetrators are mainly targeting senior citizens.
The recent victim of this scam is a 78-year-old former banker named Naresh Malhotra who resides in South Delhi. Last month, he was called by a scammer claiming that the banker’s mobile number had been used for “fraudulent” and “illegal” activities.
The scammer claimed she was a telecom company's senior official and also mentioned the involvement of Mumbai police officers in “probing” the incident. The resident of the Gulmohar Park was kept in digital arrest for more than a month and was confined to his house.
The police have said that scammers siphoned off around Rs 23 crore between August 4 and September 4 from three of his bank accounts in around 20 transactions. Malhotra received the first call on August 1.
After that, fraudsters called him multiple times, impersonating officials of the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, and Mumbai Police, placing him under digital arrest. He was even sent a “bail order”, forced to appear on video call every two hours, and sign an “undertaking to maintain secrecy”.
The scammers also told him that they had seized his passport, forcing him to share his bank details and relevant investment details. He was told that some of his accounts were linked to terror groups. They even threatened to harm Malhotra's family members if money was not given. The Delhi Police's cyber unit is probing the incident at present.
