Guwahati senior citizen duped of Rs 2.13 crore in digital arrest scam

A senior citizen residing in Guwahati was allegedly defrauded of Rs 2.13 crore in an elaborate cyber crime scheme commonly known as a digital arrest scam. According to the Enforcement Directorate, fraudsters impersonating officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and the Central Bureau of Investigation contacted the victim through WhatsApp video calls between September and December 2025.

The perpetrators falsely claimed that a bank account opened using the victim's Aadhaar details was linked to money laundering. To intimidate the victim, they displayed fabricated court proceedings and a fake digital arrest warrant, ordered him to report his presence every two hours, and threatened him with detention under the National Security Act if he revealed the incident to anyone.

Under the guise of conducting a Reserve Bank of India inspection of family funds and securing a fake bail bond, the fraudsters coerced the victim into transferring approximately Rs 2.13 crore across 19 separate transactions. To gather these funds, the victim liquidated fixed deposits, mutual funds, and shares, while also taking out loans against a pension account and insurance policies.

Investigators discovered that the alleged proceeds were channeled through a complex network of mule accounts. In response to the findings, the Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached 43 bank accounts across six banks nationwide under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, while further inquiries into the syndicate remain ongoing.

Not yet reported: The articles do not mention any specific arrests of the individuals operating the cyberfraud syndicate.