- Fraudsters accused him of involvement in Rs 4 crore fraud case
Bhopal: A shocking case of digital fraud has surfaced in Bhopal, where a retired manager of Bank of India was swindled out of Rs 68 lakh by scammers posing as police officials. The victim, 65-year-old Dayaram Deshmukh, a resident of Shahpura, has lodged a formal complaint with the State Cyber Crime Branch. The police have launched an investigation into the high-profile deception.
According to the complaint filed by his son, Piyush Deshmukh, the ordeal began on Monday when Dayaram received a call from an unknown number. The caller, impersonating a Bhopal police officer, accused him of involvement in a Rs 4 crore fraud case supposedly linked to his tenure at the Bank of India. The caller threatened immediate arrest if he did not cooperate.
= Scammers pretended to assist him in the probe
Terrified by the accusations and further alarmed after the callers claimed his daughter’s life was in danger, Dayaram informed his wife about the situation. The scammers then pretended to “assist” him in the investigation. They instructed him to remain confined in a room under what they termed a “digital arrest” and asked him to download the Signal app.
During the video interrogation, the fraudsters appeared in police uniforms and sat inside a staged office setup to make the deception appear legitimate. They convinced Dayaram that to stay protected, he needed to transfer money into specific accounts as a form of “security deposit.”
On Tuesday, still under their influence and fearful for his family’s safety, Dayaram and his wife visited the bank and transferred around Rs 68 lakh from five separate FDs to the accounts provided by the scammers. They were also instructed to maintain secrecy until the “investigation” concluded.
The truth came to light only when his son Piyush discovered the situation and immediately took his father to the State Cyber Crime Office. A formal complaint has now been registered, and the police are investigating the fraud.
