In yet another alarming case of "digital arrest" fraud, a 58-year-old resident of Badlapur, Maharashtra, has lost a staggering ₹86.49 lakh to cybercriminals who posed as officials from the Data Protection Board of India and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The scammers used fabricated terror-funding allegations to psychologically corner the victim, ultimately pressuring him into transferring his entire life savings into fraudulent bank accounts.
Weeks of Manufactured Panic
The scam played out between July 18 and July 29, with the fraudsters staying in constant touch with the victim through voice and video calls throughout this period. They claimed a bank account had been fraudulently opened in his name in Nashik and was allegedly being used to move funds linked to terrorism. To make the threat feel even more real, they told him he'd supposedly received illegal commissions from these transactions and was already under surveillance by national security agencies.
Then came the "digital arrest" — a tactic where the criminals kept the victim on video call for extended stretches, cutting him off from contacting family, a lawyer, or the police. Genuinely believing he was cooperating with an official government probe and terrified of facing legal consequences, he did exactly as instructed — transferring a total of ₹86.49 lakh across three different bank accounts given to him by the callers.
The Realisation — and the Police Complaint
It was only after the money had already changed hands, and the callers kept pushing for more, that the victim understood he'd been scammed. He went to the Badlapur East Police Station on July 29 and filed a formal complaint. Based on his statement, police registered an FIR against unknown individuals under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act, covering cheating, extortion, impersonation, forgery, and cyber fraud.
Investigators have since launched a detailed auditing services in India-style financial probe into the three bank accounts used to receive the stolen money — essentially a full financial audit aimed at tracing exactly where the funds went from there. Police are working to identify the account holders, pulling call records, checking IP logs, and following the digital transaction trail to figure out whether these accounts are part of a larger, multi-state mule account network.
Police Reiterate: "Digital Arrest" Isn't Real
Cybercrime officials have once again stressed that "digital arrest" is not a real law enforcement procedure — it's a manipulation tactic used exclusively by organised fraud rings. Genuine agencies like local police, the CBI, the NIA, or the RBI simply do not conduct investigations over video calling apps, and they never ask anyone to transfer money or make deposits to "clear" themselves of allegations.
Authorities are urging citizens to stay calm if they receive such calls, avoid making any payments, and hang up immediately. People are also advised to independently verify any claims with their local police station and report incidents through official cybercrime reporting platforms or the national cybercrime helpline. Meanwhile, the investigation into the Badlapur case continues as police follow up on further technical leads.