Bengaluru: A 57-year-old IT employee has been duped of ₹31.83 crores by threatening him with digital arrest. A case has been registered at the CEN police station in the eastern division based on a complaint from a 57-year-old woman from Indiranagar, Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka. Police stated that this is the largest amount lost by a person in the state due to a digital arrest scam.
According to police, on September 15, 2024, a fraudster called the complainant posing as a representative of DHL courier company. He said, “A package containing three credit cards, four passports, and banned MDM medicines in your name has arrived at the courier center in Andheri, Mumbai.” However, the complainant replied, “I live in Bengaluru and have nothing to do with this package.” The fraudster, who said, “This could be a cyber crime because the phone number is linked to the package,” told him.
The woman was asked to file a complaint with the cybercrime cell. Before the complainant could respond, the call was transferred to a man posing as a CBI officer. After obtaining the woman’s details, the fraudsters threatened her that they were monitoring her and warned her not to contact the local police. They also threatened that if she told anyone about the incident, her family would be implicated in the case.
Worried about her son’s wedding approaching, the woman did as the fraudsters told her. A few days later, a man claiming to be CBI officer Pradeep Singh called her via video call and threatened to “digitally arrest” her. Then, another man named Rahul Yadav was assigned to monitor the woman for a week.
The complainant stated that during this time, she was working from home. On September 23, 2024, Pradeep Singh instructed her to declare her assets to the RBI’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The woman did as she was told. The fraudsters then collected the money in stages.
Following the fraudsters’ instructions, the victim transferred ₹31.83 crore to the fraudsters in approximately 187 transactions, excluding her FD balance. The fraudsters assured the woman that the transferred funds would be verified and returned by February 2025. Police stated that they even provided her with a clearance certificate.
When the fraudsters began providing reasons for not returning the money, the woman became suspicious and filed a complaint with the Bengaluru East Division Cyber Crime Police on November 14, 2025. Police have now registered an FIR and initiated an investigation. The complainant stated in her complaint that she delayed filing the complaint due to fear of her son’s wedding and other reasons.
