A disturbing case of cyber fraud has surfaced in Mumbai, where an 85-year-old man was tricked into losing nearly Rs 9 crore after fraudsters posed as police officers and placed him under a fake ‘digital arrest.’ The scammers used fear, false accusations and forged documents to pressure the elderly man into transferring his savings.
Fake police calls and ‘digital arrest’ trap
The victim lives with his family in Mumbai’s Thakurdwar area. His elder daughter stays with him, while his younger daughter lives in the United States. On November 28, 2025, he received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Inspector Deepak Sharma from Panchavati Police Station in Nashik. The caller claimed that a bank account had been opened in the victim’s name using his Aadhaar card and was being used for money laundering and terror funding, including links to the banned Popular Front of India.
Soon after, the elderly man received a WhatsApp video call from another person wearing a police uniform. He was told that the CBI Crime Branch and a Special Investigation Team were handling the case and that he was now ‘digitally arrested.’ The fraudsters warned him not to tell his family and claimed he did not need to visit a police station as the probe was part of an online investigation under the Digital India initiative.
Life savings wiped out, bank staff step in
Out of fear, the victim shared his bank details, account balances and information about his mutual funds, shares and fixed deposits. The fraudsters also sent fake documents in the name of the Supreme Court and the RBI, saying all his investments had to be deposited in court and would be returned with interest once the investigation was over.
Between December 1 and December 17, 2025, the man liquidated his investments and transferred about Rs 9 crore through RTGS to different bank accounts in ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank. The scam was finally exposed on December 22, when the fraudsters asked for another Rs 3 crore. Alert bank employees at the Bank of India’s Girgaon branch stopped the transaction and asked him to contact his family.
The victim later called the cybercrime helpline 1930 and filed a police complaint. Police have registered a case and started an investigation into the fraud.
