PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
In a case where a Dehradun resident was digitally house arrested and defrauded of Rs 1.7 crore by cyber criminals, the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested the main accused from Bhopal Central Jail on a B warrant. The accused, Dinesh Kumar Khinchi, was already lodged in jail in connection with other cases.
The deputy superintendent of police of cyber crime unit of Dehradun, STF, Ankush Mishra said that the victim received a call claiming to be from FedEx regarding a suspicious parcel allegedly sent from Mumbai to Taiwan, bearing her personal details. The caller accused her of involvement in identity theft, drug trafficking and money laundering. The accused, posing as officials from Mumbai Crime Branch and CBI, used Skype to conduct a fake investigation, during which the victim was told she was being recorded and must not leave her room or speak to anyone.
The fraudsters instructed the woman to transfer her money for verification, claiming that her bank accounts showed irregularities and were under RBI scrutiny. After transferring a large sum, when she refused further payments, the scammers threatened her with account freezes and imprisonment, eventually disconnecting the call. Mishra said that the cyber crime team traced the bank accounts, phone numbers and digital platforms used in the fraud. After technical analysis and coordination with service providers and data platforms like Google and Meta, they identified Dinesh Kumar Khinchi as the mastermind. The team arrested him from Bhopal Central Jail through a B warrant on Sunday. He said the investigation is ongoing.
Mishra informed that the cyber criminals in such cases use apps like Skype and WhatsApp for extended video calls, forcing victims to stay confined and cut off from contact, ultimately coercing them into transferring large sums of money. He urged the public not to fall for such tactics and clarified that no legitimate agency conducts arrests or investigations over WhatsApp or Skype. The DSP advised citizens to report such incidents to the nearest cyber crime police station or through the national cyber crime portal www.cybercrime.gov.in or the 1930 helpline.
