Hyderabad: Three senior citizens, including a doctor, a headmaster, and a retired govt employee, were duped of about 48 lakh in identical but separate ‘digital arrest’ cases registered at Cyberabad, Siddipet, and Hanumakonda this week. Fraudsters, posing as police and CBI officers, cheated the victims by threatening to arrest them in false cases.On Aug 11, an 81-year-old retired govt employee from KPHB Colony received a call from an unknown number. The caller, posing as an official from the Mumbai police, told the victim that his Aadhaar was used to open a Canara Bank account for laundering. He was forced to share hourly selfies and transfer funds to a bank account given by them for verification of the amount. Under pressure, he transferred 25 lakh to the bank account on Aug 14, after which the fraudsters ghosted the victim. Realising that he got cheated, the victim approached the police on Aug 16 with a complaint, and a case was registered by the Cyberabad police.Three days later, a 58-year-old school headmaster from Husnabad approached the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau’s (TGCSB) Siddipet police station, alleging that he was duped of 12.5 lakh by fraudsters, who posed as officials from the Bengaluru police and the CBI. Alleging that a phone number obtained with his identity proof was used for making obscene phone calls, the accused showed him a fake arrest warrant and extorted 12.5 lakh from him between Aug 1 and 7 to prevent the arrest. As they kept asking for more money, the victim realised that it was a fraud and approached the police on Aug 18.Meanwhile, on Aug 19, an 86-year-old retired physician from Hanumakonda approached the TGCSB’s Warangal police station, stating that he was duped of 10.6 lakh by fraudsters posing as cops from Karnataka, who claimed that the octogenarian was a key suspect in a 187-member human-trafficking ring linked to arrested offender Sadakhat Khan of Uttar Pradesh. An image of a forged Canara Bank debit card, allegedly obtained using his Aadhaar card, and threats of a non-bailable warrant forced the victim to transfer 10.6 lakh between Aug 2 and 4 to the bank accounts provided by the accused. On his complaint, the TGCSB’s Warangal police station registered a case on Aug 19. Police are analysing the bank transaction details to identify the offenders.
