A 59 year old Karnataka government employee has been cheated of Rs 83.22 lakh in a digital arrest fraud after cybercriminals allegedly convinced him that obscene messages had been sent from his phone and that a criminal case had been registered against him in Mumbai.
Police said the case occurred in Bagalkot district and described it as a rare instance of digital arrest fraud because the victim was allegedly forced to create a cryptocurrency wallet and transfer part of the money in virtual currency. The man works in the water resources department and is due to retire this year.
Callers Posed as TRAI Officials
According to the FIR, the accused first contacted the victim on February 22 while posing as officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. They allegedly told him that a SIM card linked to his personal details had been used to send obscene messages and that an FIR had been lodged against him in Mumbai.
To make the claim appear genuine, the fraudsters allegedly sent fabricated documents through WhatsApp, including fake government letterheads, logos and forged official papers. Police said the accused then shifted communication to the Signal app and placed the victim under what they described as a digital arrest, keeping him under virtual surveillance.
The case record, as reflected in the screenshots, suggests the fraud relied on a mix of impersonation, document forgery and sustained psychological pressure rather than a single deceptive transaction.
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Money Was Transferred in Stages
Police said the victim was coerced into transferring money on multiple occasions over several weeks. Between February 25 and April 13, he allegedly transferred Rs 14.61 lakh from his SBI account to an ICICI Bank account provided by the fraudsters.
The FIR also states that he was pressured into selling gold and liquidating SIP investments, after which he transferred another Rs 30.61 lakh to an IDFC First Bank account. The fraud did not stop there. Investigators said the accused forced him to create a Binance cryptocurrency wallet and transfer Rs 38 lakh in USDT cryptocurrency between March 18 and April 15 to a wallet address given by them.
Police termed this part of the operation unusual, saying the use of cryptocurrency made the case stand out from many other digital arrest complaints in which money is typically moved only through bank transfers.
Case Registered in Bagalkot
In total, the government employee is said to have lost Rs 83.22 lakh between February 22 and April 17, 2026, before he approached the police. The case has been registered at the Bagalkot CEN police station under provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
They show that the complaint centres on a prolonged fraud in which the victim was allegedly manipulated into believing he was under official scrutiny and had to comply with successive instructions to avoid legal consequences.
The case underlines the continuing spread of digital arrest fraud, in which impersonation by supposed officials, forged paperwork and fear of criminal proceedings are used to pressure victims into surrendering large sums of money.
