Noida woman scammed ₹11 lakh in digital arrest scam – everything you need to know

• A Noida woman has been scammed of ₹11 lakh by scammers pretending to be police officials.
• The woman was placed under a fictitious “digital arrest” for several hours.
• As part of the scam, she was informed that she has an arrest warrant out in a money laundering case.

Online scams are on the rise in India, with scammers finding new ways to dupe people. After the likes of SIM swap and courier scams, a new digital arrest scam is on the rise.

A woman from Noida has been duped of ₹11 lakh by cyber criminals, who held her under a “digital arrest” for around eight hours. According to the complaint lodged with the cyber crime police station, in Noida, the scam occurred on November 13.

What is the digital arrest scam?

In the digital arrest scam, the scammers pose as police officials, claiming that the victim has committed a crime and benefited financially from it. The scammers then use video calling platforms to connect with the victim and “digitally arrest” them.

Then they claim that the victim is innocent and they need to get access to money in the victim’s account to remove the arrest warrant. After receiving money from the victim, they stop responding.

Here’s what happened

The victim was contacted by people who posed as police officers and claimed that she was involved in a money laundering case. The perpetrators also mentioned an IPS officer in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the founder of a grounded airline.

The woman was initially contacted by a person pretending to be a police officer on a skype video call. The scammer informed the victim that she has a case related to money laundering involving an airline founder in her name. He then added an FIR has been registered and an arrest warrant has been issued by the Supreme Court.

The scammer then claimed that the victim appears to be innocent, and that the case will now be transferred to an IPS officer with the CBI. He then asked the victim to connect with the officer and request for a priority investigation to remove the arrest warrant.

The victim was then informed that her account had been used for a transfer of ₹2 crore, for which she received a commission of ₹20 lakh. The officer claimed that the victim appears to be innocent and that she needs to transfer all her money to a particular account to prove her innocence.

The woman was told not to disclose the information as the matter was related to “national security”. She was also asked to be present in the video call, where she stayed from 9:30 AM to around 7 in the evening.

The woman ended up transferring around ₹11.11 lakh, after availing a loan of ₹3 lakh. The scammers then ended contact with her, after which she realised she had been scammed. She then approached police and filed a complaint.

Speaking about the incident, Inspector Reeta Yadav, in-charge of the cyber crime police station in Noida said, “People should also know that police never question any person digitally. If someone threatens you like this, ask them to send you a proper notice, ask for their details and tell them that you are coming to the police station to meet them.”

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