PUNE, Oct 30 — An 83-year-old retired government official in Pune died of a heart attack weeks after being defrauded of ₹1.2 crore in a “digital arrest” scam, where conmen posing as police and CBI officials extorted money by threatening legal action, officials said on Thursday.
According to the Cyber Police Station, the man and his wife were targeted by callers who claimed his name had surfaced in a money-laundering case involving a “prominent person.” The fraudsters allegedly told him that unless he cooperated, he would face arrest and asset seizure.
“The victim’s wife filed a complaint on Tuesday, a week after he passed away,” a cyber police official said.
The couple first received a call in August from a person claiming to be an officer from Colaba police station in Mumbai. The caller cited the Naresh Goyal money-laundering case and said the man’s alleged involvement had been detected.
“He denied any connection, but the fraudsters then made a video call where two individuals, posing as IPS officer Vijay Khanna and CBI officer Daya Nayak, threatened that he and his wife would be arrested,” the official said.
The couple was allegedly kept on a video call for several hours and told they were under “digital arrest.” Using the pretext of verifying their bank accounts, the scammers coerced them into transferring ₹1.19 crore to multiple accounts between August 16 and September 17. The callers assured the victims that the money would be returned once their names were cleared.
Police said the couple delayed filing a complaint, hoping to wait for their daughter’s return from abroad. “We advised them to register an FIR immediately, but they said they would do so after their daughter arrived,” the official noted.
The man died of a heart attack last week. “The death and the fraud may not be directly linked, but the emotional toll was evident,” the official said. His wife and daughter later approached the Cyber Police Station, where a case was registered.
An investigation is underway to trace the accounts and identify the fraudsters, police said.
