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Two held for duping retired Bengaluru couple of ₹4.79 crore in ‘Digital Arrest’ scam
The Southeast Cybercrime Police have arrested two individuals for allegedly cheating a retired couple of ₹4.79 crore through a sophisticated ‘digital arrest’ scam. The accused have been identified as Eshwar Singh and Narayan Singh Chowdhary.
According to police, the duo posed as officials from government agencies and contacted Manjunath and his wife, a retired engineering couple who had previously worked in Nigeria. Claiming that the couple’s credit card payments were overdue and their bank accounts linked to money laundering cases under investigation by the CBI and ED, the fraudsters threatened them with imprisonment in Tihar Jail.
Falling prey to the threats, the couple transferred ₹4.79 crore to the accounts provided by the fraudsters over a span of three months. Investigators found that ₹10 lakh was credited to Eshwar Singh’s account and ₹1.8 crore to Narayan Singh’s account, both registered in Andhra Pradesh.
Police sources revealed that the fraudsters had virtually held the couple under ‘digital arrest’, intimidating them continuously and extorting money through NEFT and RTGS transfers. In a state of fear, the couple even surrendered their property documents to the accused without informing their two children.
The investigation also revealed that part of the swindled amount was allegedly spent by the accused on gambling in casinos in Sri Lanka. Authorities are probing the possibility of a wider racket involving more individuals.