Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar woman, 75, loses Rs 3 crore to 'digital arrest' scam
Cyber fraudsters posing as police officers made a 75-year-old woman transfer Rs 3.008 crore from five bank accounts over 14 days, a complaint says.
A 75-year-old woman living in the Venkateshnagar area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has been defrauded of lakhs of rupees through a "digital arrest" scam. The incident took place between September 18 and October 1. According to the complaint, cyber fraudsters had her transfer a total of Rs 3 crore 80 thousand from five bank accounts to other accounts through RTGS over 14 days.
A case has been registered at Jinsi police station. The woman filed a complaint after realising she had been cheated, and the case was registered on that basis.
It began with a phone call on September 18, between about 12 noon and 1 pm. The caller said he was speaking from the Nashik crime branch and that his name was Rajan Bhise. He frightened the woman by saying that an account had been opened at Canara Bank in Mumbai using a mobile number registered in her name, and that funds for terror activities had been supplied through that account. Another person then said the account holder had received Rs 2 crore and that Rs 2 lakh of it, as commission, had come into her account. She was told that all her bank accounts would be examined by the RBI, and that if she did not cooperate, she and her son would be arrested.
The suspects made a video call on WhatsApp. The person on screen was seated in a police uniform, with the tricolour and a blue police flag visible behind him. The woman therefore believed the callers were genuine police officers. From September 18 to October 1, she was called every morning, afternoon and evening.
On September 21, the suspects obtained details of all her bank transactions. On learning that she had a fixed deposit, they verified that too. Saying an RBI investigation would follow, they also threatened to harm her family if she told anyone. She was forced to make RTGS transfers from various bank accounts to the accounts the fraudsters specified.
The money was transferred as follows: Rs 62 lakh from Deogiri Nagari Sahakari Bank on September 23, Rs 89 lakh from Central Bank of India on September 28, Rs 54 lakh from Aurangabad District Central Cooperative Bank on September 29, Rs 55 lakh from HDFC Bank on October 1, and Rs 40.80 lakh from an SBI account the same day. These add up to Rs 3 crore 80 thousand.
The woman lives alone at home. Her son works with Reliance in Jamnagar, and her daughter lives in the United States. The cyber fraudsters had threatened to arrest her son and harm the family.
