A man has been arrested for being part of a racket that cheated a city doctor out of ₹1 crore, threatening him with “digital arrest”.

Police said the doctor had filed a complaint with Survey Park police station last November, alleging that he had received a call from what he thought was the Mumbai police. The caller claimed that his name had emerged in a money laundering case.

“The doctor was put under tremendous mental pressure with an arrest threat and forced to transfer ₹1 crore in three transactions,” said an officer of the anti-bank fraud section of the detective department.

Two others — Suraj Kumar Singh and Arman Akhtar Khan — were earlier arrested in the case.

“Singh was the account holder where the siphoned money was transferred, while Khan operated the account. They named Mohammad Jahinuddin and said he was the one who took the cash from Khan after it was withdrawn from the account,” said the officer.

Jahinuddin was arrested on Monday night at Kidderpore, police said.

“Jahinuddin has disclosed the name of another person, whom the police identified as Subrata. Jahinuddin had handed over the money to Subrata after withdrawing it from Suraj’s bank account. A search is on for Subrata,” the officer said.

Officers at Lalbazar said cyber criminals use multiple layers to commit a crime.

“In case of digital arrest, the roles of the people involved are well defined. A team works to trap the victim by generating fear of arrest and then forcing him/her to transfer the money. The money is transferred into mule accounts whose ATM cards are controlled by someone else who withdraws the cash from an ATM that could be located in another state or city. Finally, after the money is withdrawn, it is sent to the mastermind through multiple couriers,” a senior police officer said.

The holders of such mule accounts where fraudulent transactions are made are most vulnerable to being traced and arrested.

“The chain of arrests starts after that,” said the officer.

₹50-lakh fraud

Another elderly Calcuttan was duped out of around ₹50 lakh last week after he received a call from a man impersonating an officer of Mumbai
Police.

The caller claimed that his name had emerged in a money laundering case and that his Aadhaar card had been used to purchase a SIM card allegedly used in the crime. A case has been started at Burtolla police station.