Mumbai: A 67-year-old Kolkata woman has alleged that fraudsters posing as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers from the Mumbai office extorted Rs 61 lakh from her by threatening to arrest her over purported terror financing and keeping her under “digital arrest” for 10 days.She lodged a complaint with Khar police on Friday after reaching her daughter’s home in Bandra (West) on Oct 14 with the callers’ permission. Her daughter noticed she was distressed and learnt that she had lost her lifetime savings and mortgaged gold ornaments to pay the fraudsters.A Khar police officer said the woman received WhatsApp video calls between Oct 1 and 10 from fraudsters claiming to be from the office of an NIA deputy inspector general in Colaba. They alleged that a bank account opened in her name in Andheri was being used to finance a terrorist organisation and that an FIR and arrest warrant had been issued against her.Although she denied owning the account, she believed the caller after he recited her Aadhaar number. To frighten her, the fraudsters sent a video purportedly showing police officers assaulting four alleged members of the organisation and claimed they had identified her as a financier. “The callers instructed me not to tell anyone or leave home without permission. After obtaining my bank details, they demanded Rs 25 lakh, which I transferred through RTGS on Oct 3. I transferred another Rs 7 lakh on Oct 5 after they claimed the first payment was insufficient,” said the senior citizen in the FIR.When she said she had no money left, the fraudsters asked about her jewellery. Following their directions, she removed ornaments from her bank locker, obtained a loan of Rs 29.9 lakh and transferred Rs 29 lakh to a specified account on Oct 8.Police have asked the bank’s nodal officer to freeze the Delhi accounts that received the money. The Mumbai cyber police registered five FIRs between Sept 10 and Oct 1 after fraudsters allegedly placed five senior citizens under “digital arrest” and cheated them of Rs 2.28 crore by threatening to implicate them with a terrorist outfit, linking their names with terrorism and funding them. Scammers also force victims to write and send WhatsApp messages declaring that they are not a threat to national security. The victims, aged between 61 and 86 and from Chunabhatti, Kandivli, Malad, Mulund and Powai, who are retired teachers, bankers and govt employees, were allegedly kept under video-call surveillance, in some cases for more than a week. Fraudsters claimed their Aadhaar cards, bank accounts or identities had been misused to obtain SIM cards, open accounts or finance terrorism. The terrorist name used and linked with the victims is “Asif Fauji”.A cyber expert said cyberattacks in India had increased more than five times since 2019 and most victims never recovered their money. Companies, banks and govt offices needed trained personnel to protect systems and prevent attacks, the expert said. Cybersecurity and ethical hacking had consequently become among India’s most in-demand career paths.
