In the latest case of the so-called digital arrest scam, a fake police officer in Hyderabad reportedly extorted Rs 5.9 lakh from a Panchkula resident.
ACP (Crime) Arvind Kamboj said that on October 9, 2024, a resident of Panchkula, Sajjan Kumar, lodged a complaint stating that he received a phone call on October 3 from a man claiming to be a Hyderabad Police officer.
The caller claimed that a credit card bearing Kumar’s name had been misused and linked to a suspect in custody for his alleged links to a terrorist organisation. The caller further claimed that the card had been recovered from the accused and Kumar had also been booked under money laundering charges.
The scammer pressured the victim to travel to Hyderabad. When Kumar refused, he was contacted via video call, where the accused pretended to be a police official and threatened him with arrest. Terrified, Kumar ended up transferring a total of Rs 5.9 lakh to the fraudsters’ accounts.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered and investigated by the cybercrime team. On November 7, police arrested Sonu, a resident of Saini Mohalla, Kharkhuda (Sonepat district). He was brought to court and remanded in custody for two days for further questioning.
Rs 33 lakh stock market scam
In another case, one of two women was arrested in a stock market investment scam worth Rs 33 lakh.
Kamboj revealed that Muhammad Sulaiman, a resident of Panchkula, filed a complaint on June 10, stating that he was duped of Rs 33.56 lakh through a fake online investment platform.
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Police said the victim was added to a WhatsApp group in March, where members lured him with promises of high profits from the stock market. The scammers claimed to be working from an office in Mumbai and conducted online trading sessions through a website link.
When the complainant later visited the said address in Mumbai, he found no such office existed. The gang was found to have set up a fake website and WhatsApp group to trick people into investing money in a bogus online trading scheme.
The case has been registered under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhya (BNS) Sections 318 (4), 319 (2), 336 (3), 338, 340 (2), and 61 (2).
On October 7, police arrested Mukund Kumar, 46, a resident of Ahmedabad, and Patel Maithali Navinbhai, 25, a resident of Surat. They both appeared in court and were remanded in custody for one day for further questioning.
(tags for translation) Panchkula
