An 80-year-old resident of Kharghar in Navi Mumbai was allegedly cheated of ₹4.38 crore in a “digital arrest” rip-off, with the scammers additionally crediting ₹1.02 crore again into the account in an enormous twist.
In response to a grievance registered on the Navi Mumbai Cyber Police Station, the fraud started on November 18 when the sufferer obtained a telephone name from a person claiming to be from “Cyber Knowledge Safety of India”.
“The caller alleged {that a} cellular quantity had been fraudulently obtained utilizing the sufferer’s Aadhaar card and {that a} associated offence had been registered at Nashik Police Station,” an investigating officer stated.
After the preliminary name, the sufferer, a retired director of an engineering and technical institute in Jaipur, obtained calls from a number of different scammers who claimed to be from quite a few investigation businesses, together with the Nashik police, the crime department, and even central businesses.
It was falsely claimed that the sufferer’s Aadhaar particulars had been misused by a terror-linked particular person to open a checking account for cash laundering. He was advised that an arrest warrant had been issued in opposition to him, however that it was being briefly withheld on account of his superior age.
The accused even shared solid FIRs, RBI letters, Enforcement Directorate (ED) notices, and fabricated Supreme Court docket communications on WhatsApp, all designed to look genuine.
All this was executed after making the sufferer be a part of a video name and telling him to not disclose the matter to anybody on account of “nationwide safety considerations”.
The rip-off and the ₹1.02 crore twist
The sufferer, who was by now scared of the gravity of the alleged costs in opposition to him, was instructed to withdraw his financial savings and investments and switch the funds into so-called “RBI verification accounts”, police stated.
A twist got here on November 24 when ₹1.02 crore was credited to the sufferer’s checking account. The complainant was then requested to share transaction particulars and switch the cash onward to different accounts.
A senior cyber police official clarified that this quantity didn’t belong to the sufferer. “The ₹1.02 crore credited to the complainant’s account was cash siphoned from different cyber fraud victims. His account was misused as a mule account for layering and transferring illicit funds,” the official stated.
The sufferer transferred cash a number of occasions to totally different financial institution accounts between November 26, 2025, and January 9, 2026, believing he was complying with official verification procedures.
The fraud got here to mild when the sufferer’s Financial institution of Maharashtra account was frozen, after Nagpur Metropolis Cyber Police flagged suspicious transactions linked to cybercrime.
The sufferer approached cyber authorities after the revelation and lodged a grievance on the Nationwide Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on January 10, earlier than recording his assertion on the Cyber Police Station.
Police confirmed that the full monetary loss amounted to ₹4,38,62,210.
A case has been registered in opposition to unknown individuals for impersonation, dishonest, forgery, and offences underneath the Info Know-how Act. Investigations are underway to hint the financial institution accounts, telephone numbers, and IP addresses used within the fraud.
Comparable ‘nationwide safety’ rip-off in Delhi
In an identical case which got here to mild simply days earlier, an aged physician couple residing in South Delhi’s Larger Kailash was allegedly duped of ₹14.85 crore after cybercriminals saved them underneath what police described as a “digital arrest” for greater than two weeks, officers stated on Saturday.
The fraud allegedly befell between December 24 and January 9, throughout which the accused impersonated officers from regulation enforcement businesses and pressured the couple into transferring giant sums of cash to a number of financial institution accounts, in response to the police cited by PTI information company.
An e-FIR was registered on Saturday, and the cybercrime unit of Delhi Police has launched an investigation, the report added.
Recounting the ordeal, the sufferer, Indira Taneja, stated the primary name got here on December 24 round midday.
“On December 24, round midday, I obtained a name from somebody claiming to be from TRAI, saying my quantity could be disconnected on account of obscene calls and complaints,” she stated.
She added that the caller accused her of cash laundering and claimed that an FIR and arrest warrants had been issued in Maharashtra.
“They related me to a person in a police uniform on a video name,” she stated.
In response to her, the person on the video name alleged {that a} Canara Checking account in her title had been utilized in a significant fraud linked to nationwide safety.
Police stated the couple, each medical doctors, had returned from america and had been residing in Larger Kailash since 2016. Their kids are settled overseas, an element investigators consider the accused exploited.
In response to the grievance, the cybercriminals threatened and compelled them to remain on steady telephone and video requires days at a stretch.
“He stated that since I used to be saying I had come from America to serve India, this was a matter of nationwide safety. If I have been concerned on this, I must come to Bombay and could be arrested,” she stated.
Police stated the fraud got here to mild solely after the calls abruptly stopped on January 9, following which the couple approached the authorities.
Regardless of repeatedly informing the callers about their medical situation and lack of assist, the strain continued, Taneja stated, ultimately leading to a lack of ₹14.85 crore.
Delhi Police stated the investigation is ongoing and efforts are being made to hint the financial institution accounts and people concerned within the alleged rip-off.
