A ‘digital arrest’ victim in Bengaluru allegedly sold two plots and an apartment, and even took a bank loan to pay over Rs 2 crore to cybercriminals over several months, the police said Tuesday.
The police said the victim is a resident of New Thippasandra in Bengaluru, where she stayed with her 10-year-old son. On November 27, an FIR was filed at the Whitefield CEN police station.
The woman’s complaint says that on June 19, she received a call from someone claiming to represent Blue Dart courier. The caller allegedly said that drugs and baggage linked to her Aadhaar number had been found, and that the Mumbai police would be coming to arrest her.
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Cybercriminals posing as Mumbai police officers allegedly threatened her with serious consequences if she did not comply with their demands. They instructed her to install some mobile applications and insisted that she stay indoors and not share any information with anyone until the ‘investigations’ were concluded, said the police
A police officer said, “While collecting primary details, they found out that she has a 10-year-old son and used it as a tool to instil fear that even he would be arrested and jailed.”
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The woman followed the orders between June 19 and November 27 and sent money to the cyber cheats several times, she said. According to the FIR, the woman sold one apartment in Vignan Nagar at a very low price, sold two plots in Malur at a low price, and even took a bank loan.
“After extorting the money, the cybercriminals asked her to visit the police station to get a ‘no-objection certificate’, and she walked into the Whitefield police station to find out that cybercriminals had conned her,” a police officer said.
In total, the woman transferred Rs 2,05,16,652 to cybercriminals over 22 transactions. The largest amount she sent in a single transaction was Rs 70 lakh.
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The Whitefield CEN police registered a case under sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act and sections 319(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and are further probing.
Rise in cybercrime cases
Karnataka has seen a loss of Rs 5,473.97 crore in 57,733 cybercrime cases over three years, but has recovered only 11.5 per cent of it. Over the last three years, on average, Karnataka lost Rs 6.05 crore a day to cybercrime but recovered only Rs 60 lakh a day.
According to the data, in 2023, victims had a 1-in-5 chance of recovering some of the money they lost. But by 2025, this has plummeted to barely 1 in 16.
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“The nature of cybercrimes has evolved. While cryptocurrency-related fraud has decreased, job scams and matrimonial fraud continue to persist. In the past, the financial losses were relatively smaller, and the duration of the crimes was shorter. However, with the rise of digital scams and stock trading frauds, criminals are now taking much longer, sometimes hours or even days, to deceive their victims,” an officer said.