75-Year-Old Woman Loses Rs 2 Crore In ‘Digital Arrest’ Fraud

Mangaluru: A 75-year-old woman was allegedly kept under “digital arrest” by cyber fraudsters posing as Mumbai police and CBI officials and made to transfer Rs 2 crore to a bank account over several transactions, police said.

According to the FIR, the woman was allegedly kept under digital arrest between September 25 and October 5, during which the fraudsters gradually extracted a total of Rs 2 crore from her.

The FIR stated that on September 25 the woman received a call from an unidentified caller who introduced himself as Sandeep Rao, a police officer from the Bombay Colaba Police.

The caller allegedly told her that she was involved in money laundering, drug dealing and child trafficking along with international money-laundering accused Naresh Goyal, and that a case had been registered against her at the Bombay Colaba police station.

She then received a WhatsApp video call from another unidentified person, who introduced himself as Samadhan Pawar, a CBI officer. The caller told her that a person said to be Judge Chandrachud would help her.

The fraudsters allegedly told the woman that she had committed an international-level offence and had to comply with a “National Secrecy Act” of the Supreme Court. They allegedly warned her that she was under surveillance and should not disclose the matter to anyone.

The callers told her that her bank accounts and property details would be verified and that she would receive clearance within two days. Believing them, the woman shared details of her bank accounts and properties.

The fraudsters subsequently instructed her to transfer money to a bank account they provided. She transferred Rs 60 lakh through RTGS to a Bank of India account. On October 3, she transferred another Rs 1.40 crore to the same account.

Police have registered a case based on her complaint and further investigation is under way.