Lucknow police’s swift and timely action foiled a major cyber fraud plot and prevented an elderly woman from losing ₹1.5 crore. A 75-year-old widow, Usha Shukla from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was put under digital arrest from 11th December to 15th December by some cyber criminals posing as CBI officials. She could have lost her entire savings had the police not intervened at the right time.
The cyber criminals contacted the woman through repeated WhatsApp video calls. They told her that she was linked to a large money laundering and terror funding network spread across Delhi and Kashmir. The cyber criminals also told her that her late husband’s Aadhaar Card and mobile number were misused in a ₹50 crore terror funding case. Her husband was a former PWD employee who passed away eight years ago. Scared and confused by the false claims made by the cyber criminals, the woman believed them to be genuine officers.
To convince the woman of their claims, the fraudsters showed her video visuals of people sitting in uniform in offices. The fraudsters warned her not to step out of her house, nor contact her family members and to adhere to their instructions. They put her under digital arrest. The cyber criminals obtained her Aadhaar details, bank documents and other confidential papers. They forced her to break her fixed deposits prematurely and transfer the money through RTGS to accounts provided by them.
Bank officials also played a key role in preventing the cyber fraud by freezing her bank accounts and alerting the police. When the woman visited a Punjab National Bank branch to break a fixed deposit worth Rs 1.21 crore, on the instructions of the fraudsters. The Bank staff grew suspicious due to the large amount of money involved and informed the branch manager, who alerted the police and froze her bank accounts. He also informed other banks, where the woman had accounts, to prevent any unauthorised transfers.
After receiving the inputs about the woman being coerced by suspected cyber criminals on Monday (15th December), the Lucknow Police sprang into action. In a prompt action, some Lucknow Police cops reached her house while she was still on a video call with the scamsters.
Speaking about the incident, DCP (east) Shashank Singh said, “The elderly woman, a resident of the area, had been receiving repeated WhatsApp video calls and phone calls from unknown persons impersonating CBI officers”. According to AK Singh, SHO, Vikas Nagar, “On receiving information about the woman, we reached her home… she was surprised as she was thinking of the men on screen as cops. They were speaking to her for days, and even spoke to us on a call”.
The woman believed that the cops were actually the ‘officers’ who had put her on digital arrest. The cops talked to the callers and realised that they were cyber criminals. The cops then counselled her about the scam and prevented a loss of her life’s savings.
Cases of cyber fraud through digital arrest have significantly increased. Last month, a 68-year-old lawyer committed suicide in Bhopal after cyber criminals threatened to implicate him in the Pahalgam terror attack. Many such cases have come to light over the last few months where vulnerable people have been targeted by cyber criminals and have been duped of all their savings and hard-earned money.