Lucknow Cyberheist: Fraudster Posing As CBI Officers 'Digitally Arrest' Poet, Made Him Recite Poems

Lucknow: A Renowned poet in Lucknow, Naresh Saxena was held under “digital arrest” for six hours by cybercriminals posing as CBI officers at his home in Lucknow. Poet received a video call from the scammers who told him that that he was being looked by the Central agency in a money-laundering case.  

Scamsters asked Saxena to recite poetry and couplets of other famous Urdu poets.

On Sunday, Saxena received a video call from a man claiming to be CBI Inspector Rohan Sharma. The caller informed he is being looked into the money laundering case in Mumbai. The caller was posing as CBI officer in the uniform which convinced the poet. 

Fraudsters ask Poet to Recite Couplets of Mirza Ghalib 

In the video call, scammers saw that there was an extensive collection of books lying behind the Poet. Subsequently, poets asked Saxena to recite  couplets by Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as well as his own poems for the next six hours. 

"As soon as he saw my room full of books, to ensure that I was the right person and the same poet he had called, he asked me to prove myself by reciting poetry. He asked me to recite the couplets of Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. He even asked me to recite my own poems, which I did. He listened to my poems for a long time and even praised me a lot," the writer said as quoted by news agency IANS.

Poet Kept under ‘Digital Arrest’ for Straight 6-7 hours 

The Video call stretched till evening on the Sunday and the poet was asked to co-operate as he was told that he will be interrogated by the CBI's Mumbai chief.   

Later, family took note of the poet's absence and him not coming out of the room for straight 6-7 hours. Later, Poet's daughter-in law entered the room and snatched the phone on which he was communicating with the fraudsters. She disconnected the call realsing it was a cyber fraud.  

A case has been registered at the at the Gomti Nagar police station and police have launched an investigation into the matter.