Initially posing as an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a cyber fraudster told the complainant that his phone number had been flagged in a criminal case. He was told that a bank account linked to that number had been linked to the ‘Naresh Goyal case’, thereby fraudulently taking the name of Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, who has faced investigations by several agencies.

The fraudster, posing as a CBI officer, told the complainant to write an affidavit admitting his involvement in the “scam”. He was then asked to appear at an “online court hearing.” The cyber scammers organized a fake hearing presided over by a fake judge. The ‘judge’ told the complainant that he faced a prison sentence and threatened to keep the hearing secret. The ‘judge’ told the complainant that, given his age, he will be assigned a government-appointed lawyer to clear his name from the case, but he will have to remain on video call for 24 hours.

Later, the scammers posing as the lawyer and the judge manipulated the plaintiff into sharing details of his finances, including deposits, bank balance, etc. Between January 23 and January 30, he was asked to send these funds to “Reserve Bank of India accounts”, which were actually mule accounts, for “fund verification”. The complainant ended up sending Rs 10.7 million in seven transactions. They then told him they would refund his money once “verification was done.” Meanwhile, the complainant recounted the sequence of events to his daughter and she told him that he had been defrauded. The family immediately went to the cyber crime police station and based on the complainant’s statement an FIR was registered.

Officials have repeatedly expressed concern that despite extensive awareness campaigns and sensitization efforts by the government and law enforcement agencies, incidents of digital arrest, online extortion and blackmail continue to be reported. These scams are usually carried out by cybercriminals posing as officials of law enforcement agencies such as police, CBI, Narcotics Department, RBI and Enforcement Directorate and judges.

These frauds have been serious enough to be denounced at the highest levels, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ speech. As Express previously reported, these scams are orchestrated by complex, multi-level syndicates that operate across borders. Victims’ money is often funneled into mule accounts and then sent to international cybercrime networks through cryptocurrency channels.