Elderly woman duped in digital arrest fraud: Defrauded amount moved to 3 accounts; more than Rs 2.89 cr frozen, say Delhi Police

Police said that after the first transaction was made by Meenakshi on January 9, worth Rs 4 crore, the money was transferred to the Chhattisgarh account. The subsequent two transactions – Rs 1.3 crore and Rs 1.16 crore – reached Kolkata and Delhi accounts.

Earlier, an elderly couple from GK was allegedly duped of around Rs 14.85 crore in a similar scam. The matter had come to light on January 9.

Om Taneja (81) and Indira Taneja (77), residents of GK 2, were duped by scammers posing as Mumbai Police officers in a two-week-long digital arrest, during which eight RTGS transfers were made.

Senior officers involved in the probe believe that no more than Rs 2 crore to Rs 2.5 crore of the defrauded amount remains within the formal banking network. “The frozen amount has largely been sent to two bank accounts traced so far, one in Vadodara and the other in Uttarakhand,” an officer involved in the probe said.

“We suspect that most of the money has been moved out of the country through crypto channels or hawala networks. So far, we have traced about Rs 1.9 crore across multiple mule account chains used to move the money,” the officer added.

“The money was moved into multiple accounts across the country as soon as the fraudsters received it. Banks can only freeze funds that are still within their systems. Since digital arrests continue for several days and victims transfer money in multiple instalments before realising it is a scam, the initial amounts are usually already out of the banking system by the time the probe begins,” said a Cyber Crime officer.

Police said wallets, cryptocurrency platforms, and hawala networks are among the primary channels used to move money out of the country. “Cryptocurrency is usually cashed out in source countries. In recent cases, these have included Cambodia and Dubai,” an officer said. “Tracking the money becomes even more difficult because even when mule account holders or the immediate operators are arrested, they often do not know who is running the operation or where the money ultimately goes.”

“Mule account holders are typically unaware of the larger operation. The system runs on commissions. The fraudsters making calls to victims are contacted through foreign Telegram accounts and are instructed to move the money for a cut. They usually have no idea who is behind these accounts,” said a senior officer.