Elderly Mumbai woman falls victim to ‘digital arrest’ scam

A 67-year-old woman in Mumbai got trapped in a daring online scam and was ‘digitally arrested’ by fraudsters. She was forced to transfer Rs 14 lakh to clear her name in a fake money laundering case, a Mumbai Police official said on Monday.

According to cybersecurity consultancy CERT-In, a “digital arrest” involves a victim receiving alert messages, misleading them into believing they are under investigation for crimes such as identity theft. The scammers use fear tactics to manipulate their victims into urgent financial actions.

In this case, the scam took place between September 1 and 5 and targeted the woman living in Kandivali West. The perpetrators chillingly posed as officials of the Delhi Telecom Department and Cyber ​​Crime Department and accused her of misusing her Aadhaar card in criminal activities, scaring her into adhering to the rules. She was convinced to deposit significant sums of money into a prescribed bank account before the fraud was finally recognised.

(With input from agencies.)