Kolhapur resident held for digital arrest fraud of Rs 62 lakh

Panaji: The cybercrime cell of Goa police on Friday arrested Dayanand Baburao Devalkar, 48, a resident of Kolhapur, in connection with alleged digital arrest fraud. The victim was cheated to the tune of around Rs 62 lakh.

Cybercrime SP Raju Raut Desai said the FIR was filed based on a complaint by a Quepem resident.

According to the complaint, Desai said, before April 13, the accused impersonated officers of the Mumbai crime branch and threatened the complainant by alleging his involvement in a fabricated case of money laundering.

Further, the accused shared fake documents, including a fake bank statement and arrest warrant, via WhatsApp and subjected the complainant to a ‘digital arrest’ and coerced him into settling the alleged case by transferring a total of Rs 61.8 lakh.

The cybercrime SP said that following an in-depth technical investigation, the suspect was traced to Ajara in Maharashtra.

Later, a police team visited Ajara and arrested the accused Devalkar.

“It was revealed that the accused received Rs 61 lakh in his bank account, which was subsequently routed to multiple accounts of his associates. The arrested accused is being produced before the court to seek police custody,” said the SP.

Further investigation is in progress with PI Deepak Pednekar. Police said that digital arrest fraud is surfacing once again and people should not fall prey to such tricks by cyber fraudsters.
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