A female doctor in Noida was allegedly duped of Rs 45 lakh by cyber fraudsters, who posed as officers from the Mumbai Crime Branch and kept her under ‘digital arrest’ for over seven hours, police said.
Dr Aarti Surbhit said that she received a call from an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as a customs official and told her that a parcel sent by her from Mumbai to Thailand had been seized by the customs department.
The fraudster further said that drugs were found inside the package and the case would be transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch.
The caller transferred the call to another person, who introduced himself as an official from the Mumbai Crime Branch and told her to connect with him via Skype for interrogation.
When she called him on Skype, the person demanded to see her Aadhar card and said that her bank account was used for money laundering transactions. He then transferred the video call to a third person, who said that she had to fill a form and pay Rs 45 lakh or else she would be arrested for 90 days.
The doctor transferred money to the account number given by the caller, but when the person kept demanding more money from her, she became suspicious and disconnected the call.
She called the cyber helpline number 1930 and lodged a complaint.
Based on her complaints, a case has been registered, and further investigation is on, the station-in-charge of the cyber crime police station said.
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