3 min readPuneFeb 27, 2026 12:28 AM IST
In an act of coercion in digital arrest fraud, a 66-year-old retired Army mechanic was forced to walk to a bank while remaining on a video call, where he was forced into liquidating two fixed deposits of Rs 26 lakh — his entire life savings — and transfer the smae to mule accounts and was even instructed to use farming as a pretext for bank officials.
A First Information Report was registered at Vishrantwadi police station by a 66-year-old civilian defence employee who retired in 2020 as a mechanic from the Army Base Workshop in Pune. On February 11, he received a video call from a Cyber fraudster who identified himself as a “Colaba Crime Branch” officer from Mumbai. The fraudster, who was wearing a uniform and even had police flags on his table, told the complainant that as many as 20 criminal cases had been registered against him. The fraudster manipulated the victim into sharing details of his savings and deposits claiming it was required for the process.
The victim was then asked to communicate with a “senior officer”. The fraudster posing as senior officer claimed that the victim’s links with terror activities had been determined and if he wanted to avoid arrest, he would have to transfer his deposits to “government accounts” for verification. For this, the victim was told that as part of his “digital arrest” he will have to keep the video call on all the time. He was forced to walk to the bank keeping the video call on. At the bank he was coerced into liquidating his fixed deposits and transfer Rs 26 lakh to mule accounts which were claimed to be government accounts.
The victim was even told that if bank officers got suspicious of the sudden transfers, he was supposed to give them the explanation that he needed the funds for farming. Couple of days later, the victim’s son saw he was under stress and asked him what happened, only to realise his father had been cheated.
The man approached the police and an FIR was registered on Wednesday after preliminary inquiry.
Officials have expressed concern that despite extensive awareness campaigns and sensitisation efforts by the government and law enforcement agencies, incidents of digital arrest, online extortion and blackmail continue to be reported. These scams are typically carried out by cyber criminals impersonating officials from law enforcement agencies such as the police, CBI, Narcotics Department, RBI, and Enforcement Directorate and judges.
Such frauds have been serious enough to be flagged at the highest levels, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address. As previously reported by Express, these scams are orchestrated by complex, multilayered syndicates operating across borders. Victims’ money is often funneled into mule accounts and then routed to international cybercrime networks through cryptocurrency channels.
