Pune: 80-Year-Old Man Duped of Rs 1 Crore in ‘Digital Arrest’ Cyber Fraud
Kasba Peth, 20th December 2025: An 80-year-old retired personnel officer of a well-known automobile company was cheated of ₹1 crore by cyber fraudsters who placed him under a so-called “digital arrest” and threatened him with a fabricated money laundering case, Pune cyber police officials said.
According to the police, the senior citizen, who resides in Kasba Peth, received a video call from an unknown mobile number on November 21. The caller introduced himself as a police inspector from Nashik and questioned the elderly man about having an account in a public sector bank.
“When the victim denied having such an account, the caller claimed that cyber criminals had opened a bank account in his name and carried out transactions worth nearly ₹2 crore. To make the story appear genuine, the fraudster even shared a forged bank statement,” a cyber police officer said.
Later the same day, the man received another video call, during which he was told that his name had surfaced in a money laundering probe. The caller instructed him not to step out of his house and warned him against sharing the information with anyone.
On November 22, another fraudster posing as a senior police officer contacted the victim and claimed that an arrest order had been issued against him. “The caller told the elderly man that he could be sent to jail for 90 to 180 days. He also falsely stated that members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) had been arrested and had allegedly used the victim’s identity to open the bank account,” the officer said.
The fraudsters escalated the pressure by sending the victim a fake court notice on November 25. He was told that depositing money with the Reserve Bank of India was necessary to verify his innocence and that the amount would be returned within three days.
“Between November 28 and December 4, the victim transferred ₹1 crore in multiple transactions to different bank accounts shared by the accused,” the officer added.
When the promised refund did not arrive by December 7 and the callers became unreachable, the elderly man realised he had been cheated and approached the police. Investigations revealed that the money had been transferred to bank accounts located in Vadodara, Nellore and Coimbatore.
A case has been registered, and further investigation is underway to trace the accused and recover the money, police said.
