Mumbai Cyber Police have arrested 6 people, including an IIT Delhi graduate and a private bank operations manager, for allegedly defrauding a 68-year-old retired businessman of ₹1.12 crore in a “digital arrest” scam.
The accused have been identified as Tarik Momin, Rakesh Jain, Chintan Desai, Shakar Tyagi, G Gohel and Ajay Sharma.
According to an official, Gohel is a web developer with a BE degree from IIT Delhi and had previously been booked in a 2021 cheating case. Tyagi works as an operations manager with a private bank.
The victim, a retired businessman from Dahisar, was allegedly kept under digital arrest at his residence for nearly 2 weeks between July and August.
The fraudsters initially contacted him while posing as Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials. They allegedly told him that his Aadhaar details had been misused in connection with a money laundering case registered in Delhi.
The accused later allegedly used an impersonator named “Vijay Khanna”, who communicated with the victim through WhatsApp video calls while wearing a police uniform. The impersonator also displayed fake documents carrying official logos and references to the Supreme Court, according to the police official.
The case highlights how fraudsters use impersonation, fabricated documents and prolonged video calls to create the appearance of an official investigation and pressure victims into transferring money.
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