New Delhi, A cyber fraud gang duped a senior citizen of Rs 60 lakh after a gang member posed as the US-based sister of the victim and asked for immediate monetary help. As the victim was not in regular touch with his sister he fell for the trick.
"The accused through their shrewd social engineering skills successfully made the complainant deposit Rs 60 lakh in his bank accounts and crypto-currency Bitcoin wallets," Urvija Goel, DCP West Delhi said.
Later, the accused revealed his true identity and threatened the victim that they have kidnapped his US-based sister and if he doesn't transfer Rs 50 lakh more, they will kill her.
The victim became suspicious after the fresh demand of the accused and contacted his US-based sister via other sources. He was shocked to know that she never contacted him or asked for any monetary help. He then reported the matter to the police.
"The accused was found using TextNow VOIP numbers with an additional layer of VPN security. The financial trail of suspect's bank accounts was scrutinized and a substantial amount of total Rs 1,00,74,975 was frozen," the officer added.
Two of the gang members were arrested from Hyderabad. During interrogation, both the accused disclosed that one of their co-accused, Imran, is in Dubai. A search for the remaining gang members is on.