A 69-year-old former deputy director general of a defence public sector undertaking in Hyderabad has allegedly lost ₹72.3 lakh after fraudsters posing as Mumbai crime branch and Colaba police officials threatened him with arrest in a fabricated money-laundering case.
The Cyberabad cybercrime police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act on Thursday following a complaint from the Gachibowli resident, according to the Times of India report. The case concerns transfers made between October 21 and November 5, after the victim first received a WhatsApp call on October 15.
The caller, who identified himself as Pradip, allegedly told the retired official that illegal activities had been conducted in his name and that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. The fraudsters then sent documents presented as official records to reinforce the threat.
According to the complainant, the documents included an FIR purportedly issued by the Mumbai police crime branch, carrying his Aadhaar number, as well as an Enforcement Directorate arrest and freezing order. He also received what was presented as an RBI letter directing him to transfer funds to a suspect account and a security deposit order attributed to the Supreme Court.
A second caller, claiming to be from Colaba police station, allegedly instructed the victim to display his PAN card, Aadhaar card and bank account details during video calls. The callers reportedly promised that the money would be returned after a verification process. This is the central mechanism described in the complaint: creating the appearance of an official investigation, isolating the target through repeated calls and presenting payment as a condition for clearing the person’s name.
The victim told police that he transferred money through RTGS to five beneficiary accounts provided by the alleged fraudsters. To raise the funds, he reportedly took a gold loan and borrowed against a fixed deposit. He said he made the transfers after being assured that the money would be refunded once the supposed verification was completed.
The fraud came to light when the callers failed to return the funds and stopped responding. The complainant said he had lost his life savings and was unable to pay the equated monthly instalments on the gold loan taken to finance the transfers.
The case highlights how digital arrest scams exploit fear of law-enforcement action while using forged government, regulatory and judicial documents to make the fraud appear credible. In this instance, the alleged impersonation extended across several institutions, including the police, the Enforcement Directorate, the Reserve Bank of India and the Supreme Court.
The police case will now establish the identities of the callers, trace the five beneficiary accounts and determine the movement of the transferred funds. The report did not provide details of arrests, recovery or further investigative action at the time of publication.
