Mumbai senior citizen put under month-long digital arrest, duped of Rs 3.8 crore

The situation escalated when the woman was asked to remain on video call 24x7

A 77-year-old woman from South Mumbai fell victim to perhaps the longest ‘digital detention’ by cyber fraudsters impersonating as law enforcers. The elderly woman was systematically terrorised with arrest in a fake money laundering case, following which the fraudsters duped her of about Rs 3.8 crore.

According to a report by Times of India, the woman first received a WhatsApp call, claiming to have intercepted a suspicious package allegedly sent by her to Taiwan. The caller said that parcel sent by her contained prohibited items including MDMA drugs, multiple passports, and a bank card. When the victim denied dispatching any such package, the caller said that her Aadhaar card details were used in the crime and asked her to speak to a Mumbai police officer.

Her call was then transferred to a person posing as a police officer, who claimed that the victim's Aadhaar card was connected to an ongoing money laundering investigation. The victim denied any involvement in any such activity.

“The complainant was then asked to download the Skype app and told that the police officers would talk to her through it. She was ordered not to disconnect and not to tell anyone about the case,” a police officer told TOI.

“A man posing as Anand Rana, IPS officer, sought details of her bank accounts. Later, another man claiming to be George Mathew, IPS, from the finance department, came on the call and asked her to transfer money into bank accounts given by them so that they could probe it. They told her the money would be returned to her if found to be ‘clear’,” the officer added further.

The situation escalated when the woman was asked to remain on video call 24x7. The scammers guided the victim to visit her bank and transfer funds. They provided her with a pre-planned explanation, instructing her to claim she intended to purchase property if bank staff questioned the transaction.

After her initial transfer, the accused strategically returned Rs 15 lakh to her account, in an attempt to gain her trust. They then manipulated her into transferring funds from both her and her husband’s joint accounts. Over an extended period, the victim transferred Rs 3.8 crore across six different bank accounts, the TOI report added further.

In a similar case, a woman in Noida was duped of Rs 34 lakh in a case of "digital arrest" by cyber criminals who threatened her with fake notices by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The fraudsters claimed that a parcel is being sent from Mumbai to Iran in her name containing five passports, two debit cards, two laptops, 900 US dollars and 200 grams of narcotics, PTI reported citing officials.