Digitally arrested for 10 days, 71-year-old from Hyderabad loses Rs 43.8 lakh

HYDERABAD: A 71-year-old retired employee from Nizampet was duped of Rs 43.8 lakh after fraudsters kept him under ‘digital arrest’ for over 10 days by posing as officials of central agencies.

On March 31, the complainant received a WhatsApp message from a person identifying himself as Sanjay, who claimed that the victim’s SIM card was being misused for terrorist activities. The following day, he received another call and was asked to speak with someone posing as an NIA official. During the call, he was falsely accused of involvement in terror funding. The caller claimed that during a CBI raid on a person named Om Abdul Salam, 247 debit cards were seized, one of which allegedly belonged to the victim and was linked to illegal transactions of Rs 2 crore.