MUMBAI: A senior citizen from Delhi lost ₹10.3 crore in a “digital arrest” cyber scam between September 25 and October 11, 2024, after fraudsters impersonating Mumbai police and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials accused him of a fake case and forced him to transfer money. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday has booked members of the cybercrime syndicate.
According to the complaint, the fraud began on September 25, 2024, when the victim received a call from a man identifying himself as ‘Vishal Sharma’, claiming to be an employee of a global shipping and logistics firm. The caller alleged that a Beijing-bound consignment sent using the victim’s Aadhaar details had been returned undelivered on September 18.
The caller then connected him to a fake Mumbai police officer via video call, who appeared in uniform and shared unclear documents before escalating the matter to another fraudster posing as ED’s “chief director Rahul Navin”.
The fake ED official told the complainant he could cooperate in the probe online due to his age and instructed him on September 30 to transfer funds to several government-designated bank accounts in separate transactions.
Following these directions, the victim transferred ₹10.3 crore in multiple transactions and was issued dubious receipts for the transactions.
The complainant claimed that his online “meetings, conversations and chats” with the alleged callers went on smoothly, until October 11, when he realised he had been cheated and cut off communication.
The case was first reported to Delhi Police and later transferred to the CBI, which registered an FIR on Tuesday under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Investigators are now examining the phone numbers used to contact the complainant and the suspected mule accounts used to extort money from him, agency officials said.
