Hostage For 40 Hours: Social Media Influencer Ankush Bahuguna Describes Experience Of Cyber Fraud, 'Lost Money...'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Social media influencer and content creator Ankush Bahuguna, on Sunday, January 5, posted a video on his social media platform Instagram addressing how he was held hostage, isolated in a digital arrest situation for the last 40 hours.

“I was missing from social media for the last three days because I was held hostage by some scammers,” said the social media content creator in his post.

Ankush Bahuguna said that this cyber fraud made him lose his money and mental health, aside from shock for the last 40 hours.

“I am still in a little bit of a shock. I've lost money, I've lost my mental health to this, and I can't believe that this happened to me,” he said.“I am talking about 40 hours of being isolated, being on a digital arrest . This is very rampant.”

The YouTuber also highlighted the frequency of these fraud incidents in recent times. In the post caption, he also mentioned that the reason behind his sharing this situation over social media is to make other people aware of scams like this.

“Instances like this are happening so much, and a lot of times when these scams happen, you figure it out in the first instance, but if you are someone like me who falls for it, this is how bad it can get,” he said.

The whole incident started when, two days ago, YouTuber Ankush Bahuguna, after returning from his gym session, received an automated call from an international number which said,“Your courier delivery has been cancelled. Press zero for support.”

Not thinking it through, the content creator pressed zero on his number pad and then the call got redirected to customer care.

As Bahuguna's call was redirected to customer care, they claimed that the parcel, which allegedly belonged to the content creator, had illegal substances in it that he wanted to ship to China but was caught by the Indian customs officials. Bahuguna denied even sending any parcel of that description, as they threatened him with actionable arrest claims and thought someone else was using his identity.

The content creator thought that someone was using his identity. Using this false narrative, the scammers told Bahuguna they would direct his call to the police. After the redirection, the call was converted into a WhatsApp call, which was a video call with some police officers, according to the video shared.

The police officers dressed in uniform claimed that there were a lot of fraud cases under Bahuguna's name. The officer also alleged that the content creator was involved in money laundering and drug trafficking, among other serious crimes.

During the call, the fake officer reportedly started interrogating the content creator about criminals he may know and even asked him about working on their behalf. They also claimed that Bahuguna had a bank account under which illegal activities were allegedly spotted, but the content creator denied having a bank account under the claims.

After allegations of being a“prime suspect” in an alleged national case and alerts of his life in danger, the scammers put him under self-custody, which made him stay on a video call with them for the next 40 hours without any contact with the outside world.

Ankush Bahuguna said he was not allowed to call people, message or respond to people's messages and even made him switch off all electronic devices in the house.

“They extracted every possible information out of me,” said the social media influencer.

The scammers also sent him to a bank and asked him to make some“fishy” transactions, which did not go through because the branch was closed, according to the video. The social media influencer later on realised the whole thing was a fraud when one of his friends texted him about popular cases of people frauding others and putting them on house arrest.

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