On August 28, Padma Bhushan awardee and industrialist SP Oswal (82) – the chairperson and managing director of Vardhman Group – received a call on his phone. The caller claimed that to be a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer and said that they confiscated some parcels in Mumbai and accused Oswal of being involved in a money laundering case. What unfolded over the next two days was an elaborate scam, involving a Skype call, digital arrest, and a Supreme Court hearing with a person posing as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Oswal lost Rs 7 crores in the scam, of which the police have recovered nearly Rs 5 crore so far.

Oswal realised it was a scam after he disclosed his ordeal to a senior member in one of his companies, and approached the police. Ludhiana police registered a first information report (FIR) and have reportedly identified an inter-state gang, of which two persons – identified as Atanu Choudhary and Anand Kumar – have been arrested from Guwahati. The scam has been going on for a while, with many people targeted by scammers impersonating FedEx employees and law enforcement officials. Here is how the scam unfolded with Oswal.

The call

Oswal received the first call on August 28 on his mobile phone, in which the fraudsters accused him of being involved in a money laundering case related to Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last year. According to the Indian Express, Oswal said that he didn’t know Goyal and had never even spoken to him. 

However, Oswal was kept under digital surveillance until August 30. “Posing as CBI officers, they instructed me to keep Skype in my phone on even during sleep and someone from the other side used to watch over me for the whole night,” he told Indian Express.

Following this, the fraudsters reportedly held a fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype with a fake judge who posed as CJI Chandrachud. “Though I could not see his face, I could hear him talking and banging a hammer on the table. The written SC order was so perfect and stamped that I believed it to be genuine and transferred the amount,” Oswal recalled. He was also sent some fake documents of the case titled ‘Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud vs Shri Paul Oswal’. The gang also told him that there was a Canara Bank account in his name with irregularities and that he had sent a parcel illegally.

The industrialist said he was so intimidated that he could not share the incident with anyone.

Oswal said that he got a document named ‘24×7 Surveillance Rules & Regulations’ with 70 points that he should follow when in digital surveillance. He was also sent a ‘CBI order’ saying that he was taken into ‘digital custody’ related to Naresh Goyal’s case. He was directed to take his Skype call wherever he went and to keep it on even while he was asleep.

The fraudsters threatened him until August 30, with fake ED arrest warrants and a fake Supreme Court order asking him to release Rs 7 crore into a Secret Supervision Account (SSA), following which he was ‘released’.

After Oswal realised it was a scam and filed a complaint, the police made the two arrests. According to reports, a search is on for seven others – Nimmi Bhattacharjee (Guwahati); Alok Rangi and Gulam Mortaza (Malda, West Bengal); Sanjay Sutradhar (Hazarapar, Assam); Rintu (Nalbari, Assam); Rumi Kalita (Guwahati); and Zakir.

The police also swiftly froze the bank accounts of the accused and recovered Rs 5.25 crore, which the police say is the biggest ever recovery in India pertaining to cyber crimes.

Inspector Jatinder Singh, in charge, cyber crime cell of the Ludhiana Police, told The Indian Express, “The accused made video calls to the complainant on Skype, wearing formal clothes with ID cards around their necks, and with some flags in the background to make it look like they were sitting in the office of an investigating agency. The complainant transferred Rs 7 crore into the bank accounts of the accused — Rs 4 crore in one tranche and Rs 3 crore in three tranches of Rs 1 crore each.”

It is to be noted that law enforcement officials do not initiate contact through Skype or other video calls, and there are standard procedures for communication regarding cases against a person. If you suspect that you fell victim or are falling victim to such a scam, contact emergency services by dialling 112 or 1930.