Pune: Cybercrooks duped a 62-year-old woman from Old Sangvi of Rs69 lakh after accusing her of money laundering and using her Aadhaar to obtain a SIM card for misuse in a digital arrest fraud between Feb 13 and March 17.The woman realised that she was duped when she went to Sangvi police station on March 17 with her mother to obtain an NOC (no objection certificate) to recover the amount she had transferred to an account following the directive of “Trai” and “Crime Branch” officials, who turned out to be bogus. After preliminary investigations, a case was registered with the Sangvi police under sections 308 (extortion), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.Inspector Amol Nandekar of the Sangvi police said the woman stayed in her father’s bungalow in Old Sangvi, along with her mother. The victim received a call on Feb 13 from an unknown cellphone number. The caller told the woman that he was from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).“The bogus Trai official told her that someone had purchased a SIM card in her name using her Aadhaar details and used it to send obscene messages, videos and photographs. The caller also told her that the Trai had received several complaints against her,” Nandekar said.The officer said the woman was then connected to a bogus crime branch officer. The crime branch officer allegedly told the woman that some people had used her Aadhaar details to open a bank account for money laundering. He told her that a case of money laundering was registered against her and threatened to arrest her. “Later, under the pretext of helping her out, he sought her bank details and other savings,” police inspector Nandekar said.He said the accused then told the woman to transfer money to a bank account for verification. He assured her to return the money immediately after the verification. “Till the second week of this month, he made the woman transfer almost all her savings — Rs69 lakh,” the officer said.Nandekar said when the woman did not get her money back, she started pursuing the bogus crime branch officer. The bogus officer told her to go to the nearest police station to get the ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the police. He assured the woman to transfer the money immediately after checking the certificate.“When the woman and her mother came to the police station for the NOC, we told them that cybercrooks had duped them. We have sought details of the transactions from the complainant’s bank,” Nandekar said.
