Fake judge and phoney court hearing: In Pune, 82-year-old loses Rs 10.7 crore in digital arrest fraud

Initially posing as an officer from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a Cyber fraudster told the complainant that his phone number had been flagged in a criminal case. He was told that a bank account linked to that number has been linked to ‘Naresh Goyal case’ thus fraudulently taking the name of the Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal who has faced investigations by various agencies.

The fraudster posing as a CBI officer told the complainant to write an affidavit admitting to his involvement in the ‘scam.’ He was then asked to appear in an ‘online court hearing’. The Cyber fraudsters staged a fake hearing with a fake judge presiding. The ‘judge’ told the complainant that he was looking at prison time and threatened to keep the hearing a secret. The ‘judge’ told the complainant that considering his age, a government appointed lawyer will be given to him to clear his name from the case but he will be required to remain on video call for 24 hours.

Later, the fraudsters posing as the lawyer and the judge manipulated the complainant to share details of his finances including deposits, bank balance etc. Between January 23 and 30, he was asked to send these funds to ‘Reserve Bank of India accounts’ which were in fact mule accounts, for ‘fund verification’. The complainant ended up sending Rs 10.7 crore in seven transactions. He was then told that his money will be returned to him after the ‘verification was done.’ Meanwhile, the complainant told the sequence of events to his daughter and she told him that he had been defrauded. The family immediately approached the Cyber crime police station and based on the complainant’s statement, an FIR was registered.

Officials have repeatedly expressed concern that despite extensive awareness campaigns and sensitisation efforts by the government and law enforcement agencies, incidents of digital arrest, online extortion and blackmail continue to be reported. These scams are typically carried out by cyber criminals impersonating officials from law enforcement agencies such as the police, CBI, Narcotics Department, RBI, and Enforcement Directorate and judges.

Such frauds have been serious enough to be flagged at the highest levels, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address. As previously reported by Express, these scams are orchestrated by complex, multilayered syndicates operating across borders. Victims’ money is often funneled into mule accounts and then routed to international cybercrime networks through cryptocurrency channels.