Three men of a cyber fraud gang have been arrested after an 82-year-old woman living alone in Hauz Khas in south Delhi was allegedly placed under “digital arrest” in April this year and was cheated of ₹1.16 crore. The fraudsters had impersonated law enforcement officials and threatened her with legal action, police said on Saturday.
Around ₹17 lakh of the duped money was seized and has been returned to the victim.
The arrested accused are Dev Raj, 46 from Himachal Pradesh and Prabhakar Kumar, 27 and Rupesh Kumar Singh, 37, both from Bihar.
The woman, in her complaint, said she received a call on April 25, when the caller posed as a law enforcement official and accused her of being linked to a criminal case. She said she was shown an arrest order over a WhatsApp video call and was kept under constant psychological pressure.
“The accused ensured the victim remained isolated. Her only daughter was abroad at the time and could not be contacted, while her husband, a former government employee, had passed away. She lives alone,” a senior police officer said.
Warned of legal consequences, the woman said she was asked to visit her bank and transfer money, police said. Subsequently, she transferred ₹1.16 crore.
She reached out to the police in April-end and upon investigation, it was found that the cheated amount was transferred to a current account of an NGO based in Himachal Pradesh. The account, however, was being operated from Patna in Bihar, an investigator said.
Police said the same account is linked to at least 32 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), involving suspected frauds worth around ₹24 crore.
Following multiple raids in Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, the cyber cell arrested the three accused. Police said Kumar installed a malicious APK file on the mobile phone of a co-accused to activate SIM cards linked to fraudulent bank accounts. He remained in contact with fraudsters using virtual WhatsApp numbers and handled cash commissions.
Meanwhile, Singh received the NGO’s current account kit through postal delivery, coordinated meetings of co-accused in Patna, and facilitated transactions from a hotel. Police said he acted as a key mediator between the account holder and the fraudsters.
Raj runs the NGO and the account was also in his name.
“Further investigation is underway to identify other members of the syndicate and trace additional proceeds of crime,” deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Aditya Gautam said.