A 77-year-old resident of South Mumbai fell victim to a sophisticated cyber scam orchestrated by fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officials.
For more than a month, these criminals kept her in a state of “digital custody,” instilling fear by threatening her with arrest over a fictitious money laundering allegation. The ordeal began when they reached out to her via WhatsApp, falsely claiming that a parcel she supposedly sent to Taiwan contained illegal items, a claim she vehemently denied.
The situation escalated when they transferred her call to an individual posing as a police officer, who informed her that her Aadhaar card was implicated in a money laundering investigation.
Under the guise of authority, the fraudsters instructed her to download the Skype application for further communication, emphasizing that she should not disconnect or disclose any information to others.
They presented themselves as senior police officials and requested sensitive details about her bank accounts. Through manipulation and deceit, they convinced her to transfer substantial sums of money into various accounts, assuring her that these funds would be returned once deemed “clear.” To further their scheme, they initially returned Rs 15 lakh to her account, which bolstered her trust.
Ultimately, she transferred a staggering total of Rs 3.8 crore across six different accounts. Her suspicions grew when the demands for additional payments continued without any sign of her money being returned.
It was only after consulting her daughter that she decided to report the matter to the police, who have since taken action by freezing the accounts linked to the perpetrators.
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