69-Year-Old duped of ₹1.5 Crore in cyber scam, 1 held

The victim, a 69-year-old resident of Andheri who retired from a private firm, was trapped by a cyber criminal

MUMBAI: The western region cyber police arrested an autorickshaw driver for allowing a cyber fraud racket to use his account to divert defrauded money from an Andheri based senior citizen who was cheated of ₹1.54 crore.

Representational image. (Pixabay/representational)

The victim, a 69-year-old resident of Andheri who retired from a private firm, was trapped by a cyber criminal who called him in December 2025 and claimed he had been circulating obscene clips for extortion.

Officers from the cyber cell said the frauds told the elderly they were police officers and that he would be arrested if he did not co-operate with them.

Police said the accused then sent fake summons and an arrest warrant, made the victim sign a confidentiality agreement, and even staged a fake courtroom proceeding with a purported judge to gain his trust and coerce him into giving them money.

They then directed the victim to transfer funds to multiple accounts under the pretext of an ongoing investigation. Fearing arrest, he transferred ₹1.57 crore, after which the fraudsters cut off contact, police said.

Realising he had been duped, the victim approached the police, who registered a case and began tracking the money trail.

The investigation led them to a bank account linked to an autorickshaw driver in Mumbai. The police subsequently arrested the accused, identified as Ashok Pal, for his alleged role in facilitating the transactions.

“We are tracing the frauds who made the calls to the victim and are involved in the racket,” a police officer said.