Bengaluru, Dec 17: A Bengaluru based lecturer was cheated of more than ₹2 crore after cybercriminals trapped her in a digital arrest scam, coercing her over several months to sell property and take loans under the threat of arrest, police said.
The victim, identified as Babita Das, was allegedly targeted between June 19 and November 27. The scam began with a phone call from a person posing as a courier company official, who claimed that suspicious baggage linked to her Aadhaar card had been seized.
The call was subsequently transferred to fraudsters impersonating Mumbai Police officers, who threatened her with arrest and instructed her to cooperate with what they claimed was an official investigation. Police said the woman was directed to stay indoors, avoid contacting anyone and install specific mobile applications as part of the fake verification process.
The lecturer, who was living with her 10-year-old son in a flat at Vignan Nagar in east Bengaluru, was allegedly subjected to sustained psychological pressure. Investigators said the fraudsters used her child as leverage, warning that the boy could also be arrested and jailed if she failed to comply.
Fearing for her child’s safety, the woman followed the instructions and transferred money in multiple instalments. According to the FIR, she sold her Vignan Nagar apartment at a distress price, sold two residential plots in Malur at low rates and also availed a bank loan to meet the demands.
In all, she transferred ₹2,05,16,652 to the cybercriminals through 22 transactions, with the highest single transfer amounting to ₹70 lakh, police said.
After receiving the money, the fraudsters allegedly asked her to visit a police station to obtain a “no-objection certificate” to recover the amount, before abruptly switching off their phones. The fraud came to light when the woman approached the Whitefield police station and realised she had been cheated.
A case has been registered at the Whitefield Cyber Crime Police Station (CEN) under Sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act and Sections 319(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Further investigation is underway, police said.
