Five held for cheating Trichy woman of ₹74.7 lakh

Trichy: Trichy cybercrime police arrested a five-member gang for scamming a 62-year-old woman of ₹74.7 lakh by impersonating govt officials and holding her in a ‘digital arrest.

’Police said Dhanalakshmi Balasubramanian, from Athavathur in Somarasampettai in Trichy district, received a suspicious call on April 17. The caller, talking in Hindi, claimed that he was from the telephone department and said her Aadhaar card was used to obtain a SIM card in Bengaluru, which was allegedly linked to criminal activities. When Dhanalakshmi informed him that she did not understand Hindi, another person identified as Deepali contacted her via WhatsApp.Then a man identifying himself as Daya Nayak, an investigating officer from Indiranagar police station in Bengaluru, repeatedly called her. He demanded ₹15 lakh immediately to prevent her arrest. He continued to harass her with multiple calls until May 7, eventually extracting a total of ₹74.7 lakh in four instalments. Realising she was cheated, Dhanalakshmi lodged a complaint at the Srirangam police station.

Police registered a case and traced the bank account to which the money was transferred to Kurichi in Coimbatore district. Following further investigation, cybercrime inspector Ambika and her team arrested R Saravanakumar, 32, from Coimbatore, and A Alan Martin, 49, from Thiruvallur, on June 17.Based on the statements of the arrested men, the team on Tuesday arrested J Arun Prasad, 37, from Salem district, U Mankur Khan, 31, from Tirupur, and D Sam Paul, 29, from Coimbatore. All five men were remanded in judicial custody. Police seized three mobile phones and documents related to the fake bank accounts from the accused and are investigating.District superintendent of police Dongare Pravin Umesh commended the team for arresting the perpetrators.