Maharashtra Cyber said it helped Delhi Police rescue a 74-year-old woman from an ongoing digital arrest scam after she had already transferred about ₹27 lakh to cyber fraudsters. The intervention followed a real-time investigation into financial transactions linked to a separate case involving an alleged ₹3 crore digital arrest fraud in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
According to Maharashtra Cyber, its technical team was assisting local police in tracing money transfers and examining bank accounts connected with the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar case. During the investigation, officials found transactions worth about ₹89 lakh in a suspected mule account, which is an account used to receive or move money for fraud networks.
The team then identified a fresh RTGS transaction of ₹14 lakh routed through UCO Bank from another individual. Maharashtra Cyber examined the transaction and sought the account holder’s know-your-customer details from the bank. The information showed that the person who had transferred the money was a woman living in Delhi.
Maharashtra Cyber alerted Delhi Police on October 13. Acting on the information, Delhi Police located the woman and brought her out of the fraud operation, according to the report. She had already transferred approximately ₹27 lakh, but police intervention prevented the remaining money in her possession from being transferred to the accused.
The case illustrates how investigators can trace digital fraud through the banking trail even when victims are located in another state. In this instance, a transaction identified during an investigation in Maharashtra led authorities to a victim in Delhi and enabled coordination between the two state police systems.
The woman was allegedly being kept under a digital arrest, a fraud method in which callers impersonate police officers, investigators or other government officials and threaten victims with arrest or legal action through video calls. The fraudsters typically use the threat to pressure victims into transferring money or sharing financial information. Maharashtra Cyber said that no police or investigating agency conducts arrests over video calls or demands money to prevent an arrest.
Delhi Police was in the process of registering a first information report in the matter, according to the report. Maharashtra Cyber appealed to citizens not to panic if they receive such calls and to contact the national cybercrime helpline 1930 immediately. The department also advised people not to transfer money in response to threats made by callers claiming to represent law-enforcement agencies.
