Mumbai: A 76-year-old Dahisar woman was allegedly cheated of ₹ 1.18 crore by cyber fraudsters who posed as law enforcement officials, accused her of funding terrorists linked to a 2025 Delhi bomb blast and threatened to arrest her. The Mumbai police’s North Regional Division cyber cell has arrested a 24-year-old man accused of providing bank accounts to route the defrauded money.
The accused, Chandrama Shyambihari Gupta, allegedly opened a bank account and shared its details with the main fraudsters. The police are looking for other suspects involved in the fraud. The caller threatened that she would have to report to the police headquarters in Colaba for questioning and could be arrested if found guilty. Other people later joined the conversation through video calls and allegedly interrogated her about her financial transactions. The purported inquiry was abruptly closed following the transfers.
A portion of the money transferred by the victim passed through the account and was allegedly forwarded to the cybercriminals in return for a commission, police officials said. Vyas later told her daughter about the incident, following which the family realised she had been defrauded and approached the police.
The cyber cell registered a case against three unidentified suspects under provisions relating to extortion, fraud and the Information Technology Act. Gupta was detained for questioning and subsequently arrested in connection with the case. Because of her age, but warned that she would still have to face questioning, one of the callers reportedly claimed that he was being lenient.
The fraudsters then told her that she was under “digital arrest” and must not contact anyone because the investigation was confidential.
