MUMBAI: A woman, 49, from Andheri ended up losing Rs 33.5 lakh to fake cops and CBI officials recently. She was accused of being involved in ‘money laundering’ and the fake officer gave her a choice – she could either choose to be in police custody for three months or opt to be in digital custody for seven days until the probe is completed.
The woman ended up losing her savings to cyber fraud. Cops said this could be the first case in Mumbai of a person being given the choice of ‘digital custody’. The fraud took place between December 2 and December 31. A criminal offence was registered on February 25.
The woman said she first received a call from a person who claimed to be from Trai. He said her mobile number will be disconnected within 2 hours because it was being used to send threat & fraud messages to many people. She refuted the allegations.
Another said an FIR was filed against her in Delhi. He told her that illegal activities were being carried out using her Aadhaar and that several bank accounts were opened in her name for laundering.
One more person, claiming to be IPS officer Rajeshwar Pradhan, video-called her. She said since the caller was in police uniform, she believed he was indeed a cop.
The woman said she submitted an application for digital custody and Pradhan ‘approved’ it. She was instructed to make a WhatsApp call to him every hour. He asked her to transfer all her money into a ‘Secret Supervision Account’, claiming it would be returned once they issued her a clearance certificate. On Dec 31, Pradhan stopped taking her calls which made her suspect that it was a fraud.