Digital arrest scams have increasingly become a way for fraudsters to impersonate police officers and investigative agencies and threaten victims with arrest. Victims are often contacted via voice calls or video calls and pressured into transferring money or following what the scamster orders them to do.
In a recent case, the fraud went beyond digital communication, with the scamsters people also visiting the victim’s home and taking her original property documents. The 75-year-old woman, who is a resident of Delhi, lost money and gold and duped of her property documents , which were worth over Rs 2 crore.
How The Digital Arrest Scam Started
According to an NDTV report, the woman was undergoing treatment for cancer when she received a call on her landline on April 6. The callers claimed to be Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and told her that her phone number was linked to a money-laundering case.
They also threatened to arrest her and her children. The callers allegedly told the woman that the matter involved national security and that she could be arrested within 30 minutes. She was also told that there would be no bail and instructed her not to inform anyone.
The fraudsters later used WhatsApp video calls, appearing in police uniforms and showing their faces to convince her that they were genuine officials. The woman was allegedly kept on a continuous video call and monitored by the callers.
They also asked about her finances, gold and property. The woman transferred Rs 3 lakh from her Bank of Maharashtra account in Vasant Kunj to an account specified by the fraudsters.
The following day, she was asked to pledge 83.5 grams of gold, including two bangles, a chain, a chain with a locket and four studs. She took a gold loan of around Rs 4,95,250, which the complaint alleges was transferred to an account provided by the fraudsters.
The fraud then extended to her property. The callers allegedly told the woman that an authorised property dealer would contact her regarding her home, which was worth over Rs 2 crore. A person identifying himself as Sushant Kumar contacted her on April 8 and visited her home on April 13. He took the original property documents and their copies according to the report. However, he did not provide a receipt.
Kumar returned with two others on April 15. The two men posed as a buyer named Anil Kapoor and a witness named Praveen Chadha. The woman was made to sign an advance receipt-cum-agreement according to the report to sell the house and other documents without being given complete information.
On April 17, two cheques worth Rs 23 lakh and Rs 10 lakh were deposited into her account. Additionally, Rs 21 lakh was withdrawn the same day, followed by another Rs 3 lakh withdrawal the next day. The complaint alleges that the money was subsequently transferred to an account named Savitri Bai Phule Educational Welfare Society.
How The Case Came To Light
The woman received her last call from the fraudsters on April 23 and later began to suspect that she had been cheated. Her daughter, Radhika Ralhan, who lives in the Netherlands, made a video call to her on April 27. During the call, she saw her mother with an unknown man inside a car and noticed that she appeared frightened. Ralhan asked her to immediately approach the police.
An e-FIR was registered on April 27. Ralhan arrived in Delhi on April 29 and went to Kumar’s office, where she demanded the return of her mother’s original property documents. She alleged that Kumar demanded Rs 24 lakh for returning them.
Ralhan later approached the Delhi High Court seeking a CBI investigation. The Delhi Police’s status report submitted to the High Court said Kumar’s role was not found in the fraud case. The investigation found that a gang operating from Cambodia is behind the fraud.
