Mohali, March 25 — Mohali cybercrime police on Monday saved an 80-year-old man and his wife from losing ₹1.10 crore to cyber fraudsters running a ‘digital arrest’ scam. The scammers, posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, kept the couple under psychological captivity through continuous WhatsApp calls.
The incident came to light when the elderly victim, a former HMT manager and father of a Kargil war braveheart, visited the State Bank of India’s Phase-7 branch to withdraw money against his fixed deposits. The bank manager, suspecting fraud, alerted the police.
Upon arrival, officers found the victim still on a WhatsApp call with the fraudsters. To avoid alerting the scammers, police discreetly wrote messages on paper, informing the man of the fraud.
“It took us hours to convince him he was being duped. Even after we took him home, he stayed on the call. We finally had to take his phone and confront the fraudsters ourselves. That’s when they disconnected, and the victim realised the truth,” a police officer said.
The ordeal began on Sunday afternoon when the couple received a call from fraudsters claiming the man was linked to a money laundering case through a SIM card in his name. After he denied any involvement, the scammers introduced another fraudster posing as a Supreme Court judge, who threatened immediate arrest unless he paid ₹1.10 crore.
Kept in fear, the victim was ordered to stay confined to his room under the fraudsters’ ‘supervision’ via nonstop WhatsApp video calls. He was instructed not to speak to anyone and visit the bank on Monday.
The bank manager’s quick thinking and the police’s swift action prevented the scam.
This is not the first such case in Mohali. In October last year, a retired SDO lost ₹41 lakh after being held in ‘digital custody’ for two days by scammers posing as CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
In another incident, a National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) professor narrowly escaped a similar fraud when her neighbour intervened before she could transfer money.
