Hyderabad: Fraudsters posing as Mumbai crime branch and CBI officials cheated a 67-year-old retired colonel of ₹61.8 lakh in a digital arrest scam. Malkajgiri cybercrime police registered a case on Wednesday following his complaint.The victim, a resident of Kowkoor, received a call on Sept 8 from a fraudster posing as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) employee. The caller claimed that his Aadhaar details had been misused to obtain a mobile number linked to illegal activities.“The call was transferred to a man posing as Mumbai crime branch inspector Rakesh Kumar, who claimed that a case had been registered against me. Later, another fraudster identifying himself as Inspector SK Jaiswal recorded my statement over a WhatsApp video call,” the victim told police.Over the following weeks, the gang sent him forged documents, including an FIR, an Interpol notice, an arrest warrant, an Enforcement Directorate funds-freezing order and Supreme Court orders, falsely linking him to a money-laundering case.The fraudsters sought details of his bank balance and persuaded him to transfer ₹61.8 lakh to multiple bank accounts between Sept 16 and Oct 9, purportedly for verification of funds. They promised to refund the money within five days, the complainant said.The accused stopped communicating with him on Oct 9. The victim disclosed the fraud to his son on Oct 19 and lodged a police complaint on Oct 21. Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
