A 76-year-old retired private employee in Bengaluru was defrauded of ₹33.7 lakh after cybercriminals created a fake virtual courtroom. The fraudsters even posed as a magistrate to make the scam appear legitimate.
The victim, identified as Bhaskar Rao (name changed), said he was completely convinced by the digital set-up and did not suspect anything until he discussed the incident with his family after the video call ended.
"I lost all retirement savings. The court they had created looked real, and the magistrate spoke about legal procedures, so I could not become suspicious,” Rao told Deccan Herald (DH).
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The scam began on October 15 when Rao received a call from someone claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The caller connected him to another man who introduced himself as Jaiprabhakar Choudhary, a senior officer with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and accused Rao of involvement in money laundering.
Over the next two weeks, the fraudsters placed Rao “under surveillance” and threatened to arrest him if he did not cooperate. They later connected him via video call to Samadhan Pawar, who claimed to be an IPS officer and additional director at the ED. Rao was shown a digital court notice and told that a case had been filed against him by Naresh Goyal, managing director of a private airline.
{{/usCountry}}Over the next two weeks, the fraudsters placed Rao “under surveillance” and threatened to arrest him if he did not cooperate. They later connected him via video call to Samadhan Pawar, who claimed to be an IPS officer and additional director at the ED. Rao was shown a digital court notice and told that a case had been filed against him by Naresh Goyal, managing director of a private airline.
{{/usCountry}}The scammers instructed Rao to transfer his funds to designated bank accounts for “verification by the Reserve Bank of India,” promising a refund within 72 hours. Fearing arrest, he transferred ₹23.7 lakh as demanded.
On October 29, the fraudsters created a fake virtual courtroom where Rao appeared before a man posing as a magistrate. The impostor “granted bail” but demanded another ₹10 lakh as “court fees,” which Rao told DH. It was only later that he realised he had been cheated out of a total Rs33.7 lakh.
Following Rao’s complaint, the North Bengaluru Cybercrime Police have registered a case and launched an investigation to trace the perpetrators.