Hyderabad octogenarian loses Rs 7.12 crore in ‘digital arrest’ scam

HYDERABAD: An 81-year-old retired businessman from Somajiguda lost Rs 7.12 crore after falling victim to a ‘digital arrest’ fraud, in which scammers falsely accused him of involvement in a drug trafficking racket and extorted money in the name of verification.

According to the complaint, the victim received a WhatsApp call on October 27 from a person identifying himself as Sunil Sharma from Blue Dart Customer Care. The caller claimed that a parcel sent by the victim from Mumbai to Bangkok contained a laptop, five passports, 200 grams of MDMA and other items.