Cybercriminals 'digitally arrest' Faridabad woman, dupe her of Rs 2.5 lakh

A 23-year-old woman hailing from Faridabad in Haryana fell victim to a scam, losing Rs 2.5 lakh, and was "digitally arrested" by cybercriminals, as reported by the police on Thursday.

An FIR was lodged on Wednesday following a complaint lodged by the woman, as reported by PTI.

In her complaint, she narrated an incident that occurred on October 12 when she received a call from an individual who identified himself as a customs officer based in Lucknow.

The caller informed her that a package containing numerous passports and other identification documents was set to be dispatched to Cambodia under her Aadhaar number. He advised her to report the matter to the police, warning that she might have to appear in a Lucknow court otherwise.

Soon after, she received a Skype call, during which the caller introduced several men in police uniforms. One of them claimed that an FIR had already been filed against her.

In her statement, the woman mentioned that the individual in the police uniform named a bank official, accusing him of human trafficking and implicating her as an accomplice.

"They also referred to some complaints in which people alleged that they had given me money to facilitate sending children abroad, and I had defrauded them of approximately Rs 3.80 crore. Subsequently, a person posing as a CBI officer informed me that I needed to pay five percent of the amount, which amounted to Rs 15 lakh. When I expressed my inability to do so, they threatened to digitally apprehend me," the woman recounted.

She added that the cybercriminals instructed her not to log off from Skype. During this time, she transferred Rs 2.5 lakh to an account shared by the culprits.

"Afterward, they continued to press me for my father's ATM card details. When their attempts to extract more money proved unsuccessful over several days, they informed me that they were concluding my digital arrest, allowing me to log out of my Skype account," she stated.

Also Read Cyber attack targets Medical Aid for Palestinians' website amid Israel-Hamas conflict