Mumbai: Cyber fraudsters impersonating Mumbai Police officials allegedly duped a 72-year-old retired teacher of ₹1.61 crore by placing him under what they described as a “digital arrest” through repeated video calls, police said on Friday.
The victim, identified as Palden, is a resident of the Tibetan Colony in Mundgod town of Uttara Kannada district. According to the complaint filed with district police on Thursday, the fraud began with a WhatsApp call from an unidentified person who introduced himself as an inspector from Mumbai’s Colaba Police Station.
The caller claimed that several ATM cards had been recovered from a terrorist arrested in Mumbai and that one of the cards was registered in Palden’s name. To intensify the threat, the fraudster alleged that crores of rupees had been transferred from Palden’s bank accounts and that a money laundering case had been registered against him.
To make the claims appear genuine, the accused conducted video calls while wearing a police uniform and shared fake bank statements with the elderly man, a senior police officer said. The victim was told that to avoid arrest, he would have to deposit his funds into a so-called “National Fund”, assuring him that the money would be returned after the investigation was completed.
The fraudsters allegedly warned Palden not to discuss the matter with anyone and instructed him to report his location every two hours through WhatsApp, describing the entire process as a “digital arrest”.
Out of fear of legal action, Palden liquidated his fixed deposits and also borrowed money from relatives. He transferred a total amount of ₹1.61 crore in multiple instalments to bank accounts provided by the fraudsters, police said.
It was only later that Palden realised he had been cheated, following which he approached the Karwar Cyber Crime Police Station. A case has been registered and an investigation is underway to trace the accused and follow the money trail, police added.
