Doc kept under ‘digital house arrest’, duped of Rs 2.80 cr

Lucknow: A neurologist at the SGPGI here has fallen victim to an elaborate cyber fraud, losing Rs 2.8 crore to scammers, who kept her under “digital house arrest” for six days posing as officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

An FIR has been lodged regarding the matter and the police have launched an investigation into the fraud done with the senior doctor of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute (SGPGI) of Medical Sciences, officials on Wednesday said.

Digital house arrest is a tactic where the cyber criminals confine the victims to their homes in order to scam them. The offenders generate fear by making audio or video calls, frequently posing as the law enforcement officers using AI-generated voices or video technology. The scammers manipulated Dr Ruchika Tandon by claiming that her name had surfaced in a money laundering case involving the owner of Jet Airways. They coerced her into transferring money to multiple accounts, threatening legal action if she did not comply. The incident began on August 1, when Dr Tandon received a call from an individual claiming to be an employee of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The caller informed her that 22 complaints had been filed against her, leading to the potential suspension of her mobile numbers.

She was instructed to download the Skype app, through which she was connected to someone who introduced himself as CBI officer Rahul.