A senior IT professional in Bengaluru has lost ₹ 31.83 crore in what is being seen as the largest amount lost by an individual to a digital arrest scam. The woman stayed silent for more than six months as the fraudsters threatened to implicate her family members. She realised she had been deceived only after the criminals suddenly stopped all communication.
The incident began on 15 September 2024, when the fifty seven year old woman received a call from someone claiming to be from a courier service. The caller said a package in her name had arrived at the Mumbai centre. He claimed it contained three credit cards, four passports and MDMA drugs. When woman denied any connection to the package, he suggested that cyber criminals might have misused her identity. He asked woman to report the matter to the cybercrime police. Before she could end the call, it was transferred to another number. A person posing as a Central Bureau of Investigation officer then spoke to her.
He warned her not to approach the police. He claimed that the cyber criminals who had misused her identity were watching her. He also threatened to implicate her family members if she shared the information. With her son’s wedding approaching, she followed their instructions out of fear.
In the following days, the fraudsters placed woman under what they called a house arrest through a skype call. She was told to keep her camera on at all times. A man identifying himself as CBI officer Pradeep Singh later informed her that another man, Rahul Yadav, would monitor her for a week. She continued to work from home during this period.
On 23 September 2024, Singh questioned her through skype from a hotel. He asked her to declare all her assets to the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Reserve Bank of India. Following the instructions, she liquidated her fixed deposits and savings. She then transferred ₹ 31.83 crore across one hundred and eighty seven transactions.
The fraudsters assured her that the money would be returned after verification by February 2025. Woman also received a clearance certificate in December 2024, just days before her son’s engagement. However, the ordeal continued until March 2025. The criminals offered repeated excuses until they ended all communication on 26 March.
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