‘Digital arrest’: Mumbai woman, 78, loses ₹1.9 crore after fake Pahalgam attack charge

A 78-year-old woman from Chembur in Mumbai lost about ₹1.9 crore to fraudsters who told her she was linked to the Pahalgam terror attack and placed her under “digital arrest”, police said.

Posing as police and investigating officers, the callers threatened her with arrest, kept her on video calls and made her transfer her savings to accounts they controlled, supposedly for verification. By the time she realised it was a fraud, the money had been moved.

How the scam works

“Digital arrest” scams have cost Indians thousands of crores. The callers pose as officers of the police, CBI, Customs or Enforcement Directorate, claim the victim’s name has turned up in a parcel of drugs, a money-laundering case or, as here, a terror investigation, and then keep the victim isolated on a video call, sometimes for days, until they pay. Older people living alone are frequent targets.

Protect yourself and your family

• There is no such thing as a “digital arrest”. No agency arrests or questions anyone over a video call or asks for money to clear their name.
• Hang up, and call the local police station yourself.
• Report fraud immediately on the cybercrime helpline, 1930, or at cybercrime.gov.in. The faster it is reported, the better the chance of freezing the money.