A 72-year-old retired man from Mumbai’s Malad West has allegedly lost ₹89.80 lakh after cyber fraudsters posed as senior police officers, accused him of terror financing and money laundering, and kept him under prolonged digital surveillance.
The fraud allegedly began with a WhatsApp video call on August 28. A man dressed in police uniform introduced himself as senior IPS officer Vishwas Nangre Patil and claimed that the victim’s Canara Bank debit card had been used in suspicious transactions worth crores of rupees.
The caller also allegedly told him that an NIA arrest warrant had been issued.
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Fake police identity and forged documents created fear
When the victim said he was a senior citizen and could not travel to Nashik, the caller allegedly offered to conduct the questioning remotely.
Another person later joined the communication and introduced himself as Sandeep Rao from Panchavati Police Station in Nashik.
The fraudsters allegedly sent multiple documents carrying the logos of the police, NIA, Supreme Court, Enforcement Directorate and Reserve Bank of India.
Those documents were used to support claims that the victim’s bank account was linked to money laundering and terror funding.
The combination of official-looking paperwork, police uniforms and video calls appears to have convinced the victim that he was dealing with genuine law-enforcement officials.
Victim allegedly ordered to disclose all his assets
The accused allegedly instructed the man not to discuss the matter with anyone.
They also obtained information about his bank accounts, fixed deposits, gold, vehicles and other assets.
That information then became part of the pressure campaign.
The victim was allegedly told that his finances needed to be checked as part of the investigation.
Between August 29 and September 10, he liquidated fixed deposits and transferred money through RTGS to four bank accounts supplied by the fraudsters.
The total amount transferred reached ₹89.80 lakh.
Another ₹39.80 lakh was demanded
The pressure did not stop after the initial payments.
On September 4, the fraudsters allegedly demanded another ₹39.80 lakh.
When the victim began questioning whether he was being cheated, he was allegedly threatened with seven years in prison.
He was also instructed to share his location every two hours.
The callers reportedly promised that he would receive a police clearance letter once their supposed investigation was completed.
That prolonged control is central to the digital-arrest method.
There is no legal concept of “digital arrest” in India. Genuine police, NIA, ED or other agencies do not keep citizens confined over WhatsApp video calls or ask them to transfer personal funds for verification.
Terror-funding claims are increasingly used to force compliance
The Malad case follows a pattern seen in several high-value digital-arrest scams.
Fraudsters often start with an allegation involving a bank account, SIM card or identity document.
The accusation is then escalated to crimes such as money laundering, narcotics, terrorism financing or hawala.
The more serious the allegation sounds, the less likely a frightened victim may be to disconnect and independently verify the caller.
The420.in has previously reported several Mumbai cases in which senior citizens were subjected to similar tactics, including fake ED, CBI and police investigations. One 77-year-old Mumbai resident allegedly lost ₹2.25 crore after being told that a bank account opened in his name was linked to terrorist funding.
Another 77-year-old senior citizen allegedly lost ₹50 lakh after fraudsters impersonated ED officials and staged fake legal proceedings over video calls.
The cases are separate, but the psychological script is strikingly similar.
Fraud exposed only after callers disappeared
The Malad victim reportedly realised something was wrong when the accused stopped responding and their numbers became unreachable.
He contacted the national cybercrime helpline 1930 on September 10 and subsequently filed a complaint.
The North Cyber Police Station registered the FIR on September 14 under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act along with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provisions relating to cheating, forgery, impersonation and criminal conspiracy.
Inspector Sunil Rajaram Lokhande is investigating the case.
Police are examining the four beneficiary accounts, mobile numbers, forged documents and the identities of the people who communicated with the victim.
The financial trail will be particularly important because the people speaking to the victim may not be the same people whose bank accounts received the money.
Why breaking fixed deposits is a major warning sign
One detail stands out in this case.
The victim allegedly liquidated his fixed deposits because the callers told him to move the money for verification.
No genuine investigation requires a citizen to break an FD and send the proceeds to an account supplied over WhatsApp.
That instruction should be treated as an immediate red flag.
Fraudsters often describe these accounts as “safe accounts”, “RBI accounts”, “verification accounts” or “government accounts”.
They are none of those things.
They are simply beneficiary accounts controlled directly or indirectly by the criminal network.
What this means for you
If anyone claiming to be a police, NIA, ED or RBI officer tells you to transfer money, liquidate an FD or remain under video surveillance, disconnect immediately and verify the claim through official channels. Report suspected financial cyber fraud to 1930 as quickly as possible.
The420 Insight
The fraudsters in this case did not rely on one convincing phone call. They built an entire fake investigation around the victim — uniforms, government logos, terror allegations, location tracking and repeated video calls. That is why digital-arrest scams are so effective: the victim is not simply tricked into making a payment, but psychologically pushed into behaving as though a criminal case already exists.
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