A retired Army officer in his seventies has allegedly lost ₹1.28 crore after fraudsters posing as telecom officials, Mumbai Crime Branch officers and CBI personnel placed him under a so-called “digital arrest” and pressured him to transfer his savings.
According to an FIR registered at the Pune city cyber police station, the victim received a call on August 20, 2026, from a woman claiming to be from “Telecom Headquarters in New Delhi.” She alleged that a phone number registered in his name was being used from Mumbai for fraudulent calls and circulating obscene videos.
The callers later sent him a fabricated FIR and photographs over WhatsApp before handing the conversation to men claiming to represent the Mumbai Crime Branch and CBI.
During video calls, one impersonator appeared in police uniform and identified himself as CBI officer “Pawar”, while another claimed to be a senior officer named “Vijay Khanna”. They questioned the veteran about his family, bank accounts, fixed deposits and gold holdings, warning that he could be arrested unless he cooperated with their supposed investigation.
Under continued pressure, the victim was instructed to liquidate fixed deposits and transfer money into accounts provided by the callers. Police suspect these were mule accounts used to move the stolen funds.
Between the last week of August and the first week of September, he transferred a total of ₹1.28 crore from his savings and fixed deposits. The fraudsters allegedly told him that moving money through multiple accounts was part of a routine verification process.
The victim’s wife spoke to their daughter abroad on September 1. The daughter recognised the pattern as a digital arrest scam and alerted her parents. The victim then contacted the cybercrime helpline and Pune cyber police, leading to the FIR.
There is no legal provision for a “digital arrest” in India. Genuine law enforcement agencies do not ask citizens to transfer personal savings into third-party accounts over phone or video calls.
Anyone receiving such a call should disconnect immediately, avoid sharing bank, Aadhaar or OTP details, and never transfer money. Suspected fraud can be reported through the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
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