Digital arrest scam: Cops foil ₹1.1-cr cyber fraud targeting elderly couple in Mohali
The fraudsters, posing as officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), kept the couple under psychological captivity through continuous WhatsApp calls.
The Mohali cybercrime police on Monday saved an 80-year-old man and his wife from losing ₹1.10 crore to cyber fraudsters running a ‘digital arrest’ scam. The fraudsters, posing as officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), kept the couple under psychological captivity through continuous WhatsApp calls.
The incident came to light when the elderly victim, a former HMT manager and father of a Kargil war braveheart, visited the State Bank of India’s Phase-7 branch to withdraw money against his fixed deposits. The bank manager, suspecting fraud, alerted the police.
Upon reaching the bank, the police found that the victim was still on a WhatsApp call with the fraudsters. Realising that the scammers were listening in, police officers discreetly wrote messages on paper to inform the victim about the fraud. “It took us hours to convince the victim that he was being duped. Even after we took him back home, he remained on the call with the fraudsters. We had to finally take away his phone and confront the fraudsters ourselves. That’s when they disconnected the call and the victim realised the truth,” said a police officer.
According to police, the ordeal began on Sunday afternoon when the victim and his wife received a call from fraudsters claiming to be CBI officials. They falsely accused him of being linked to a money laundering case through a SIM card registered in his name. After the victim denied any wrongdoing, the scammers escalated the intimidation by introducing another fraudster posing as a Supreme Court judge. The imposter threatened immediate arrest but later offered to halt the process in exchange for ₹1.10 crore.
“As the victim remained in fear, the fraudsters instructed him to stay confined to his room under their ‘supervision’ through continuous WhatsApp video calls. He was ordered not to interact with anyone and to visit the bank on Monday,” DSP Jatinder Chauhan said.
The bank manager’s alertness and the police’s swift action prevented the scam from succeeding.
This is not the first instance of such fraud in Mohali.
In October last year, a retired SDO lost ₹ 41 lakh after being held in ‘digital custody’ for two days by fraudsters posing as officials from the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The victim remained under constant video call surveillance, preventing him from reaching out for help.
In another case, a professor from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, narrowly escaped a similar scam when her neighbour intervened just before she could transfer money.
