NT Reporter
Panaji
Goa cyber crime police have arrested two persons in separate cyber fraud cases in which a 75-year-old woman from Miramar lost Rs 14.67 lakh in a digital arrest scam and a 40-year-old man from Bandora, Ponda, lost Rs 7.72 lakh in an APK file fraud.
In the digital arrest case, police arrested Mohan Kalve, a native of Hubli, Karnataka. In the second case, Manojbhai Bhimbhai Vasava, a native of Gujarat, was arrested, said Cyber Crime SP Rahul Gupta.
“Following an in-depth technical and financial investigation, the suspect was traced to Hubballi, Karnataka,” Gupta said.
He said it was revealed that the accused was actively operating a bank account which received illicit credits amounting to Rs 2 lakh. The accused subsequently carried out eight ATM withdrawals and deliberately routed the funds to his associates. The analysis uncovered that the account was linked to another cyber fraud case in Telangana involving Rs 2.05 lakh, he said. The FIR in this case was registered last month, police said.
In the second case pertaining to APK fraud, the accused was traced to Bharuch, Gujarat, police said. The FIR in this case was registered in September last year.
“It was revealed that the accused had received Rs 4 lakh in his bank account at Layer 1, which was subsequently routed to multiple accounts of his associates,” Gupta said during a press briefing at the cyber crime police station in Ribandar.
Referring to the digital arrest scam, police said unidentified accused, using multiple mobile phone numbers, impersonated officials from TRAI and the Supreme Court and threatened the complainant with false allegations of Aadhaar misuse for SIM card issuance.
She was subjected to a so-called ‘digital arrest’ and coerced into transferring Rs 14.67 lakh, police said.
In the APK file fraud case, police said the accused, using multiple mobile numbers, sent the complainant a fraudulent message that appeared to be from his bank. The message contained a suspicious APK file. After installing the file, the complainant was unable to access his phone and unauthorised debits totalling Rs 7.72 lakh were made from his bank account.
