Cyber Fraudsters Keep 77-Year-Old Mumbai Woman in Digital Arrest, Steal Rs 3.8 Crore

Mumbai: A 77-year-old woman from Mumbai became the latest victim of an elaborate cyber fraud scheme, in which scammers posed as law enforcement officials and kept her under “digital arrest” for a month, forcing her to transfer a staggering Rs 3.8 crore.

The ordeal began when the victim, a homemaker residing with her retired husband in south Mumbai, received a WhatsApp call from an unknown man who accused her of being involved in a money laundering operation. According to police officials, the caller claimed that a parcel sent by the woman to Taiwan contained illegal items, including MDMA drugs, five passports, a bank card, and clothes.

The woman denied sending any such parcel, but the fraudster insisted that her Aadhaar card had been linked to the criminal activity. The caller then connected her to another individual who identified himself as a "Mumbai Police officer." This person told her that her Aadhaar details were involved in an ongoing money laundering investigation.

"The caller asked the woman to download the Skype app and told her that police officers would talk to her. She was ordered not to disconnect the call and disclose the matter," the official said.

Later, a man who identified himself as an IPS officer sought details of her bank accounts. Another man, claiming to be an IPS officer from the finance department, asked the woman to transfer money to bank accounts provided by them.

"They told her that the money would be returned if no illegality is found," the official said.

The accused returned the Rs 15 lakh transferred by the woman, apparently to gain her trust.

"They subsequently asked the woman to send all her money from the joint bank accounts of her husband. She ended up transferring Rs 3.8 crore in several transactions to six bank accounts," the official said.

The complainant suspected something was amiss when she didn't get her money back even as the accused kept demanding more funds in the name of taxes to release the money she had transferred to them.

"The woman called up her daughter who lives abroad. Her daughter told her she was being conned and asked her to approach police," the official said.

The woman subsequently dialled the cyber helpline number 1930, following which investigators froze the six bank accounts where the money was transferred, he said, adding that the crime branch was probing the case.