Bengaluru Woman Loses ₹30 Lakh in ‘Digital Arrest’ Scam: Forced to Break FDs, Empty Bank Accounts

Bengaluru Woman Loses ₹30 Lakh in ‘Digital Arrest’ Scam: A 46-year-old woman in eastern Bengaluru was held under ‘digital arrest’ for 11 days, forced to break 3 Fixed Deposits, and cheated of over 30 lakhs by cybercriminals posing as CBI and Mumbai police officials.

The victim only realized she was cheated after the scammers stopped calling her. She saw an article about the same scam and reported the incident to the police on Dec 19, the report said.

Lavina P (name changed), a housewife from Indiranagar realized she was cheated on 4 days after the scammers stopped calling her when she saw an online article about the ‘digital arrest’ scam, even as her husband and family were unaware of her situation.

Lavina told the police that on Dec 3, around 10.45 am, she received an IVR call “from TRAI”. She was asked to press 9 or else her number would be disconnected and her bank accounts would be frozen.

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Lavina was then connected to one Vinod Kumar who claimed to be from TRAI and shared an “FIR number” with her saying a SIM card purchased in Mumbai in her name was used to send her harassment messages. She was asked to note down the FIR details and her call was “transferred to Pant Nagar police station in Mumbai”.

Next, one Aditya Keshav told Lavina he was a police sub-inspector at Pant Nagar station and started questioning her over the phone. He told her she had to be in Mumbai within 5 hours or else she would be under digital arrest. Since she couldn’t travel, she was “arrested” digitally.

She was then put on a video call with “CBI ACP Pradeep Kumar” who accused her of money laundering and “questioned” her for 5 hours. She was asked to transfer all her money and savings to be verified by “The Supreme Court of India Auditor”.

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First she transferred 99,000. On Dec 4, 5, and 7, she broke 3 FDs of 10 lakhs, 9 lakhs, and 8.5 lakhs respectively, and transferred them to the scammers as per their instructions.

She was told her money matched “serial numbers in money laundering” and was asked to pay 20 lakhs as a penalty or else she would be arrested. She was asked to sell her house and settle the amount.

On Dec 13 and 14, she transferred 90,000, the final balance in her account. On Dec 15, she discovered the Skype ID used for video calls was deactivated. “She approached the police on Dec 19 after seeing an online article about the scam,” a police officer said.

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