BHUBANESWAR: A former employee of National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) and his retired lecturer wife were held under digital arrest for 35 hours in the city by cyber fraudsters who terrorised the couple for their alleged link with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
The crooks made bid to extort Rs 1 crore from the couple but luckily, their attempt failed as the bank account they wanted the ransom to be deposited turned out to be inactive.
The couple reported the matter to Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station here on Wednesday after realising it was a trap to con them.
Police said the couple received a call from fraudsters impersonating as officers of a central agency. The scamsters claimed that the couple had received a commission of Rs 6 lakh from terrorists in J&K and provided their Aadhaar cards to them for anti-national activities.
“Initially, the fraudsters asked us to pay Rs 21 lakh in their bank account. However, when we visited the bank, the officials there informed us that the account was inactive,” the lecturer told the newspaper.
The fraudsters were unrelenting and kept the duo under digital arrest. They asked them to share the details of their bank accounts to verify if the couple was involved in money laundering. This is when they became suspicious. “We grew suspicious and switched off our mobile phones and informed the police about the matter,” she said.
Police confirmed that the couple luckily did not lose any money as they switched off their devices before the scamsters could act. “An inquiry has been launched into the matter and further action will be taken accordingly,” said an officer of Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station.