Housewife mortgages 30 tola gold to pay ₹30 L in digital arrest fraud

The woman realised she had been duped when she read a news report about a digital arrest fraud while travelling via train to Vadodara, said police

MUMBAI: A 61-year-old Worli-based housewife was duped of ₹30 lakh by frauds who posed as government and police officials and placed her under digital arrest, claiming her mobile and bank accounts had been used in various frauds. They later coerced her to mortgage 300 grams of gold and pay them ₹30 lakh.

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According to the central cyber police, the 61-year-old woman lived in Worli with her 62-year-old businessman husband and their son. On June 3, she received a call from a person who claimed that he was calling from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

“The caller told her that a phone number registered in her name was being used for illegal businesses like harassing people,” a police officer from the central cyber police station told Hindustan Times.

When the woman said the number did not belong to her, they connected her to a person who claimed to be Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer Rajeev Sinha. This person told her that funds related to the alleged money-laundering case against Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal had been transferred into a bank account in her name, and asked her to sign a letter requesting that her case be fast-tracked.

Thereafter, another caller who posed as a CBI judge placed her under digital arrest and asked her not to speak about the case with anyone.

“She then got another call from a man who posed as an officer of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The caller inquired about her funds and when she said that she had nothing barring 30 tolas or 300 grams of gold, he explained how she could mortgage the gold,” said the police officer.

The woman subsequently mortgaged the gold and availed a loan of ₹30 lakh, which she transferred via RTGS to a bank account which the frauds claimed belonged to the court. The money would be returned to her after verification, they told her.

“The woman realised she had been duped when she read a news report about a digital arrest fraud while travelling via train to Vadodara in Gujarat,” said the police officer. “She then approached the cyber police with a complaint.”

The police have registered a first information report (FIR) based on the woman’s complaint under sections 204 (personating a public servant), 308 (extortion), 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation), 336 (forgery) and 340 (forged documents or electronic records and their fraudulent use) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.