Mumbai Woman Scammed of ₹1.7 Lakh in Digital Arrest' Fraud

Scammers in Mumbai forced a 26-year-old woman to undress during a video conversation and defrauded her of ₹1.7 lakh. By claiming her name had surfaced in a money laundering investigation, police reported a startling case of digital arrest. In her complaint, the woman, who works for a pharmaceutical business and resides in Borivali East. She claims that the con artists called her on November 19 and claimed to be Delhi Police officers. They informed her that her name had come to light. As they were looking into a money laundering case involving Naresh Goyal the jailed founder-chairman of Jet Airways.

After booking a hotel, the con artists demanded that she send ₹1,78,000 to confirm her bank account information. They demanded she strip during the video chat, claiming that she needed to verify her body. The woman followed the scammers’ directions and sent the money as reported by NDTV.

On November 28, she realized she had been duped and filed a complaint with the police. The authorities have filed a case under the Information Technology Act and specific sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhit. They have already started conducting an investigation.

Scammers had defrauded Shri Paul Oswal. The chairman and managing director of the textile giant Vardhman Group, of ₹7 crore using Naresh Goyal’s name. Someone informed the senior that he was under “digital arrest” in that instance.

Digital Arrest

A new type of fraud known as “digital arrest” occurs when con artists inform the victim that they are under “digital” or “virtual” arrest and that they must stay in contact with them via audio or video call. Scammers inform the target that they are under a “digital arrest” and instruct them not to disclose this information to anyone else. The fraudsters will continue to monitor the situation until they transfer the funds to their accounts. Although police have issued multiple warnings emphasizing that “digital arrest” or “virtual arrest” does not exist, the increase in these cases indicates that they have not widely spread the message. Senior adults who are less tech-savvy and more likely to follow instructions are the ideal targets for scammers. However, scammers have recently begun to target younger folks as well.