A popular YouTuber and social media influencer, Ankush Bahuguna, has recently shared with the world the horrific experience he had to go through when digital arrest hoaxing kept him hostage for 40 hours.
An emotional Instagram video described how scamsters cheated Ankush Bahuguna, taking away his hard-earned wealth and causing intense mental trauma for him.
The incident started when Ankush Bahuguna received an apparently innocent call from an international number alerting him to the presence of illicit materials in a shipment he had allegedly mailed.
By stating that he had an arrest warrant in his name and forcing him to make several cash transactions, the scammers intensified the situation. To increase his anxiety, they even pretended to be police officers during a video conversation.
This scam took a lot of psychological toll.
Ankush Bahuguna stated that apart from the ₹2.5 lakh in cash losses, he had mental distress that was critical. “I have been missing from social media and everywhere for the last three days, I was held hostage by some scammers for 40 hours“, he said describing how the event left him stunned and perplexed. “Can’t believe this has happened to me; money and mental health lost,“.
Ankush Bahuguna’s friends and family eventually stepped in to help him escape the scammers’ grasp after he displayed strange behaviour.
In his video, Ankush Bahuguna underlined how important it is to raise awareness of these scams in order to prevent others from falling victim to their schemes.
With a bid to increase public awareness over rising cases of cyber fraud happening in India, Ankush Bahuguna promptly shared his incident on social media after the issue occurred.
In his warning advice to the netizens, Ankush recommended carefulness and vigilant behaviour to disclose information online or when receiving phone calls. According to experts, a few important tips to avoid fraudsters are to not panic, authenticate the caller, and not disclose confidential or personal data over an uninvited phone call.