HYDERABAD: A 44-year-old techie from Hyderabad narrowly escaped from the clutches of cyber criminals Sunday, albeit after a 30-hour-long digital arrest. The ordeal that started Friday night saw the victim ride 15km from his home in Miyapur to Ameerpet, at an ungodly hour, and check into a lodge — all the while being on video call with the perpetrators. It ended Sunday morning when the victim’s call abruptly dropped, and he managed to reach out to cyber crime cops for help.
Initially, the IT professional received a series of suspicious text messages, which he ignored as spam. The torment began around 3am Saturday, when the victim received a call from the fraudsters – first posing as FedEx courier agents and then as Mumbai police officials – who claimed his Aadhar number was linked to a money laundering case.
This time, the victim believed it to be genuine. Once trapped, the fraudsters forced him to get on a WhatsApp video call and stay on it till his account was verified. They also instructed him to isolate himself from the family until then so that information isn’t leaked, and his family isn’t dragged into it.
“Worried, he left the home around 4am. He told his wife and minor son that was going to attend an emergency meeting with his boss at a hotel and that he would be busy for the next few hours. He also asked them not to disturb him until he returned home,” said a cop from the cyber crime department. According to police, the victim was on the video call even while riding to the lodge in Ameerpet as the scammers threatened him with arrest and legal trouble for his family members, if he didn’t obey.
“They told him that the procedure would continue until Monday morning, when banks open for operations. Then, he could make an RTGS payment from his account for verification and be released,” the cop added. They did not quote any specific amount. This continued till around 4 am on Sunday morning. When the victim’s call suddenly dropped at this hour, he managed to call the Hyderabad cyber crime helpline, where officials realised that he had been conned.