Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Nov 27: Despite repeated cyber-awareness campaigns by Mumbai Police—especially warnings about “digital arrest” scams—senior citizens continue to be targeted. A Mulund-based elderly couple has recently fallen victim to an elaborate cyber fraud in which scammers impersonated Crime Branch officials and extorted Rs 32.80 lac.
According to the East Region Cyber Police, the ordeal began on November 11 when the victim received a call from a man introducing himself as Crime Branch officer Sandeep Roy. He claimed that a Rs 2.5-crore money-laundering transaction had allegedly passed through her husband’s bank account and warned that both she and her husband faced imminent arrest.
On the following day, the woman received a WhatsApp video call from two men dressed in police uniforms, identifying themselves as officers Jaiswal and Deepak Jaiswal from the Crime Branch’s Colaba Unit. They told the couple that arrest could be avoided if they “cooperated” and asked her to reveal her bank balance and jewellery details. Believing the threat, she informed them that she had Rs 37 lac in her Union Bank account.
By November 13, the fraudsters instructed her to transfer Rs 32.80 lac to a specified bank account. The couple went to the Mulund (West) branch and completed the RTGS transfer, later sharing the receipt with the scammers, who falsely claimed the case had now been escalated to the Enforcement Directorate.
The next day, the scammers attempted to take the fraud further—contacting her again via WhatsApp and directing her to remove gold jewellery from her bank locker and pledge it at Muthoot Finance. A manager from Muthoot accompanied her to the bank for verification. Fortunately, that evening her son-in-law arrived, heard the sequence of events, and immediately realised the couple had been duped.
The woman then approached Mulund Police Station, which recorded her preliminary statement before referring the case to the East Region Cyber Police. She has accused callers identifying themselves as Sandeep Roy, Deepak Roy and Deepak Jaiswal of cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.
Police have begun tracing the phone numbers and bank accounts used in the scam. Further investigation is currently underway.