Pune: A senior citizen and a woman collectively lost Rs5.82 crore in two separate digital arrest frauds.The online fraudsters cheated the Kondhwa-based housewife (51), hailing from a business family, of Rs4.82 crore posing as Mumbai cyber police personnel, and threatening to arrest her in a bogus money laundering and drug trafficking case. She lodged a complaint with the Pune cyber police on Monday night.Another set of cybercrooks threatened the 77-year-old man from Chinchwad of arrest in a fake money laundering case and cheated him of Rs1 crore. He also lodged a complaint on Monday with the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police.Senior inspector Ravikiran Nale of the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police said the elderly man had retired from a private company. He received a call from an unknown number on Dec 30 last year. The caller introduced himself as a CBI officer. The scamster allegedly told the senior citizen that ED officials had found a bank account opened in his name during an action against an industrialist. The caller also told the victim that it was being used for money laundering.“The crooks then contacted the victim through a video call,” Nale said. The officer said the criminals told the elderly man that he would be under their surveillance until the completion of the inquiry. The crooks took the details of his family members, bank accounts and other savings. They even told the victim that he may be arrested.“The bogus CBI official told the victim that he needed to check the legality of his bank balance and mutual funds. The crooks made him transfer Rs1 crore to different bank accounts between December 30 and January 14 and promised to return the money after the verification process was over,” the officer said.The elderly man realised that he was duped when he did not get his money back. “We have sought details of the transactions from the victim’s bank,” Nale said.Cut to the Kondhwa woman’s cheating case. She transferred Rs4.82 crore to cybercrooks between Dec 18 last year and Jan 15 this year.According to the police, the woman was alone when she received a call from the fraudsters. They claimed to be officials of a courier company and told her that she had sent a parcel containing drugs, laptops and other documents to Thailand. Before she could regain her composure, she received another call. This time the caller claimed that he was an officer with the Mumbai cyber police and told her that she was involved in a money laundering and drug trafficking case. The officer then allegedly threatened to arrest her, and sought her bank and personal details.The police said the caller promised to help the woman in lieu of money after she shared all her details. The woman transferred Rs4.82 crore to eight different bank accounts. When the suspects kept on demanding more money, she realised that she was cheated.
