Posing as officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Mumbai Police, the cyber fraudsters extorted Rs 4.8 crore from a 51-year-old woman by threatening to arrest her for drug trafficking and money laundering.
A first information report was recorded by the 51-year-old Kondhwa resident, whose relatives reside in the United States. Between December 18 and January 12, the complainant was forced to transfer Rs 4.82 crore of her life savings in eight large transactions to mule accounts. The fraudster claimed that these accounts were “RBI accounts” and his funds were sent to these accounts for verification and clearing his name from the case.
The fraud began with a call from a person posing as a courier executive and telling him that Customs had intercepted a package sent in his name to Thailand. He was told that five passports and one drug, MDMA, had been recovered. They told him that his case would be investigated by Bombay police and CBI. The fraudsters posing as Mumbai Police and CBI agents told her that they had named her in a drug trafficking and money laundering case. He was asked to remain in front of the phone camera as part of his digital arrest.
The scammers told him that to clear his name from the case, the funds in his account will have to be transferred to “RBI accounts”. They gave him mule account numbers and asked him to transfer his savings, deposits and investments. After transferring Rs 4.82 crore of his life savings in eight large transactions to mule accounts, the fraudsters continued asking him for money. After searching the Internet about such accusations, he discovered that he had been cheating. He later approached the cyber crime police station and an FIR was registered on Monday.
Officials have 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.