Software engineer falls prey to cyber fraud

Indore: A software engineer from Indore was 'digitally arrested' for three hours and forced to take a personal loan of Rs 16 lakh. The fraudsters managed to siphon off Rs 8 lakh before her father's timely intervention saved the remaining amount.The crime branch has registered a case against unknown fraudsters. Additional DCP Rajesh Dandotiya said that the fraudsters tricked the woman by claiming that a parcel in her name contained drugs, threatening to register a case against her if she did not cooperate.The victim, Aditi Gupta (name changed), a resident of Annapurna, filed a complaint with the crime branch that some unknown fraudsters deceived her and siphoned off approximately Rs 8 lakh from her bank account.As per the complaint, on Nov 4, 2024, at around 6 pm, Aditi received a phone call from an individual posing as a representative of FedEx Courier Services.The caller claimed that a parcel addressed to her, which was supposed to be sent from Mumbai to Singapore, was seized at Mumbai airport for containing a large quantity of drugs. Manipulating the conversation, the fraudsters connected the call to a Skype ID purportedly belonging to a Mumbai-based authority. The individual on the call kept his/her camera off and communicated only via audio, subjecting Aditi to psychological pressure. She was threatened that her and her family's reputation would be tarnished if she did not comply with their demands.Under duress, Aditi was blackmailed into providing her banking details. The fraudsters then used her savings account to take a personal loan of Rs 16,50,561. Out of this amount, they successfully transferred Rs 4 lakh into their accounts. Since her account had a transaction limit, they first created a fixed deposit (FD) of Rs 6,90,000, then generated a new overdraft (OD) account, from which another Rs 4 lakh was transferred. In total, the fraudsters siphoned off Rs 8 lakh through various transactions.Realising the fraud the next day after her father's intervention, Aditi immediately contacted her bank to freeze the account and also lodged a complaint on the cyber portal. Based on the complaint, the crime branch registered a case under various sections of BNS.

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