Woman loses ₹3.75 Cr in ‘Digital Arrest’ Scam, Supreme Court flags growing menace

In a chilling instance of cyber fraud, a 68-year-old woman from Mumbai was cheated of nearly ₹3.75 crore after cyber criminals subjected her to a so-called “digital arrest”, impersonating police officers, central agencies and even a Supreme Court judge, police said on Monday.

According to officials, the fraud took place between August 18 and October 13 this year. The woman, a resident of Andheri West, received a call from a person claiming to be from Colaba police station, alleging that her bank account had been used for money laundering. She was threatened with arrest and warned not to disclose the matter to anyone.

The fraudsters escalated the deception by posing as CBI officials and conducting a fake online court hearing, during which one accused identified himself as “Justice Chandrachud”. Under sustained psychological pressure, the woman was made to share her investment details and transfer funds for “verification”, eventually moving money into multiple bank accounts over two months.

When the calls abruptly stopped, the woman realised she had been duped and approached the West Region Cyber Police Station. A case was registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Investigators found that the funds had been routed through several “mule accounts” bank accounts used to launder illicit money.

Police have arrested a man from Surat, Gujarat, who allegedly opened a current account using a fake cloth-trading company and allowed cyber fraudsters to park ₹1.71 crore in it. He reportedly earned a commission of ₹6.40 lakh and has disclosed details of two alleged masterminds of the racket, both believed to be operating from abroad.

The case comes amid rising concern over the spread of digital-arrest scams across the country, particularly targeting elderly citizens. Taking note of the growing menace, the Supreme Court earlier this month expressed serious concern and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out a unified, pan-India probe into such cases.

The apex court, led by the Chief Justice of India, observed that digital-arrest frauds pose a grave threat to public trust in law enforcement and judicial institutions. It asked all states to grant consent under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act to enable the CBI to investigate these cases nationwide, and gave the agency a free hand to probe the larger networks behind the scams, including possible cross-border links.

Investigations into the Mumbai case are continuing, with police making efforts to trace all those involved in the racket.