A resident of New Town has been cheated out of ₹3.26 crore after being trapped through a phone call. A group of fraudsters threatened him with a fake arrest warrant posing as officers from Mumbai Police, in yet another digital arrest fraud in the city.

Malay Basu Ray, a resident of New Town, had received a call on December 16 where the caller introduced himself as an officer of the Mumbai crime branch and informed Ray that a SIM card issued in his name had been reported to the police 24 times for alleged harassment, resulting in an FIR against him.

“When the complainant declined to accept the ownership of the SIM, the caller patched up the call with another person who said he was a CBI officer and was probing a larger case in which Ray’s involvement was found,” said an officer of Bidhannagar City Police.

Ray was served with an “arrest order” over a video call, during which he was threatened that he might be taken into custody anytime.

Digital arrest is a scam designed to extort money from victims using fear, deceit, and intimidation. Fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials, using threats
of arrest, frozen bank accounts, and passport cancellations to coerce victims into paying a "fine" or "security deposit" to avoid legal action.

“Under the guise of leniency due to my age, they placed me under ‘house surveillance’ in Calcutta, requiring me to report my whereabouts every two hours and prohibiting me from leaving without their permission,” Ray told the police.

“Using the threat of immediate physical arrest, the individuals posing as CBI officers compelled me to disclose my entire financial portfolio, including bank accounts, immovable properties, shares, mutual funds and PPF details. They promised that any financial loss incurred due to the premature liquidation of these assets for ‘verification’ would be reimbursed by the authorities,” Ray said.

Ray sold his shares worth ₹2.23 crore, liquidated his fixed deposits worth ₹29.82 lakh, prematurely closed his public provident fund account, withdrew ₹52.07 lakh and liquidated mutual funds worth ₹17.54 lakh and transferred the entire amount to save himself from being arrested, the police said.

The digital arrest that continued for almost a month ended with the final transfer of ₹20 lakh for obtaining “bail.”

Ray realised the fraud much later and reported the matter to the New Town police station on January 19.

The police said a probe has been launched. No one was arrested till Wednesday evening.

Credit card fraud

A 46-year-old resident of Salt Lake filed a complaint of credit card fraud amounting to ₹41,000 on Tuesday. The illegal transactions were used to purchase a smartphone on an e-commerce platform. Sheikh Kabirul Islam has blocked his card.