The Ernakulam Rural cyber police have arrested two persons in a case suspected to involve a huge racket that reportedly cheated a 63-year-old resident of Aluva of ₹1.15 crore by threatening him of arrest warrants against him by the Supreme Court.
The arrested were identified as Ashwin, 25, and Athul, 33, of Kozhikode. The fraud started unfolding with the victim receiving a text message that his SIM card would be deactivated in four hours. The fraudsters reportedly convinced him that the SIM card had been taken using his Aadhaar credentials and that the Mumbai police had registered a case against him after his number was found involved in an online fraud.
He was reportedly told that among the 245 ATM cards seized by the Mumbai police was a card linked to his Aadhaar, and the Supreme Court had issued two arrest warrants in connection with the fraud.
A person, allegedly part of the racket, got in touch with the man over Skype and showed some fake notices and documents. He was asked to pay money to get the case frozen and told that it would be refunded later.
The man then paid ₹1.15 crore to five different bank accounts in six lots. When he was asked to pay money again, the man realised that he was being taken for a ride and lodged a police complaint.
District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) Vaibhav Saxena formed a special investigation team, which eventually arrested the two accused. The police suspect a well-networked racket behind the fraud and said many more people would have fallen prey to their ploy.
The team comprising inspector Vipin Das, sub inspector R. Ajithkumar, assistant sub inspector Deljith, and senior civil police officers Vikas Mani, P.S. Ineesh, Jerry Kuriakose, Unnikrishnan and Rahul K.R. made the arrests.
