Pune: A 75-year-old woman from Karvenagar allegedly lost Rs 32 lakh to cybercrooks posing as Nashik city crime branch officials, who threatened to arrest her for links to a financial and drug racket. The fraud took place between Oct 6 and Nov 6, according to a complaint lodged with the Warje police.The woman lives with her son and other family members in a flat in Karvenagar. Police said the suspects contacted her through video calls on a messaging application and claimed fraudsters had misused her bank account and Aadhaar card to launder Rs 2 crore, allegedly used to run a drug cartel.“The fraudsters sent her fake warrants through the messaging application and instructed her not to disclose their calls to anyone, including her family members. They claimed to have arrested 247 people in the case and told her that she was the 248th person on their list,” the FIR stated.The suspects allegedly subjected her to a digital arrest, instructing her to report to them twice a day through video calls, in the morning and evening.They then shared details of two bank accounts and asked her to transfer money, promising that she would not be physically arrested if she complied. They also threatened to freeze her bank accounts and seize her property, police said.Fearing arrest and the loss of her property, the woman transferred Rs 32 lakh in two transactions.After exhausting her savings, she approached her nephew for more money. When he questioned her about the requirement, she narrated the sequence of events. Her nephew then realised she had been cheated and informed her, police said.
