Hyderabad: Fraudsters posing as law enforcement officials extorted Rs 52 lakh from a 70-year-old retired govt employee by threatening to arrest him in a false case.The victim, from Rama Krishnapuram, said that on Aug 22, he received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number. “The caller identified himself as an officer from Mumbai’s Colaba police station. He claimed that a criminal case had been registered against me for illegal advertising, harassment and fraudulent activities,” the victim told police.Subsequently, other fraudsters posing as senior officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Maharashtra police, Enforcement Directorate and RBI joined the conference calls. “They alleged that a debit card linked to my Aadhaar was used in transactions connected to terror funding and money laundering. They threatened to arrest me and freeze my assets,” the victim alleged.Fearing arrest, the victim complied with the instructions of the fraudsters and transferred Rs 52 lakh on Aug 25 to a bank account specified by them for ‘RBI verification’. As the accused did not return the amount and became incommunicado soon after, the victim realised that he was cheated, and approached the police on Saturday.A case was registered under sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.) and 308(2) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the IT Act.
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