A 40-year-old doctor in Noida has lost Rs 59.54 lakh to cyber criminals who allegedly posed as telecom officials and held her in “digital arrest” for two days. According to the victim, Dr Pooja Goyal, a gynaecologist, the money-syphoning incident took place between July 15-16.
According to the reports, the woman has filed a case at Noida Cyber Crime Police Station. In her complaint, Goyal said she received a call on July 13 from a man claiming to be an official of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
The doctor claimed the official connected her to a police officer from Mumbai’s Tilak Nagar Police station. The police informed Goyal that an FIR had been filed against her for sharing porn videos and an arrest warrant was issued.
The doctor was informed that her name was mentioned in a money laundering case involving Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. She was also told that the National Security Act had been used against her.
Naresh Goyal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 1, 2023. He is accused of taking Rs 538.62 crore in loans from Canara Bank that were meant for Jet Airways.
The cyber criminals gave death threats to Goyal and said her daughter would be kidnapped. After intimidating her, the thugs told the doctor that the only way to escape trouble was to transfer all her money to their bank accounts.
Goyal transferred Rs 59.54 lakh to the bank accounts provided by the fraudsters. The entire money was reportedly transferred from Goyal’s account in two days between July 15 and July 16.
According to her complaint, Rs 49.54 lakh was initially transferred to a bank account in Ahmedabad. The following day, Rs 10 lakh was transferred to an account in Raipur. Goyal claimed that the fraudsters forced her to stay on WhatsApp video calls constantly.
ACP (cyber crime) Vivek Ranjan Rai said a case was registered, and a probe was underway.
Earlier in the similar incident in May where another doctor from Noida, Dr Aarti Surbhit, was allegedly defrauded of rs 45 lakh by fraudsters who posed as officers from the Mumbai Crime Branch. Dr. Aarti was kept under digital arrest for several hours, police said.
