Elderly couple duped of Rs 81L saved for hubby's treatment

Varanasi: An elderly couple, held under ‘digital arrest' for three days, lost Rs 81 lakh they had realised from land sale for the husband's treatment in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The amount was transferred into the account of cyber frauds in three phases.

Cybercrime police station in-charge Jagdish Kushwaha said on Saturday a case was filed on Friday based on the complaint of Mautttu Gothi, resident of Gopal Mandir area under the limits of Kotwali police station.

In her complaint, Gothi said she received a call from an unknown number on Jun 30 evening and the caller, posing as an officer of a central investigative agency, said obscene messages were being sent from her mobile number. The caller claimed a money laundering case had been filed against her and that she would be arrested if she didn't act immediately.

The scammers intimidated the woman, telling her that to avoid arrest, she needed to transfer all the money from her bank account to a ‘secure account' with the RBI. They activated net banking on her mobile and completed the verification on Jul 1. From Jul 1 to Jul 3, the fraudsters kept her online and transferred large sums from her bank accounts. Amounts of Rs 30 lakh on Jul 1, Rs 37 lakh on Jul 2 and Rs 14 lakh on Jul 3 were transferred fraudulently via RTGS. Once the account was emptied, scammers disconnected all their numbers.

She said the family had collected all their savings and combined it with the proceeds of sale of ancestral property for her husband's kidney transplant. The woman explained that her husband recently underwent a kidney transplant and the family was banking on the remaining money for his postoperative treatment. "We are under great mental and financial stress and now even affording living expenses has become difficult," she said.