Pune: Senior citizens from various parts of Pune have collectively lost Rs100 crore in 136 digital arrest scams over 19 months, according to data compiled by the Pune cyber police.As per the numbers, over the whole of 2025, police registered 85 such cases in which senior citizens lost Rs53.52 crore in total. In 2026, 51 cases were registered till the end of July, involving total losses of Rs46.27 crore.“Though the number of cases is lower in 2026, the amount of money involved is staggering. People have lost large sums this year. In one case, a single senior citizen was cheated of Rs10 crore,” said senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of the Pune cyber police.The officer was alluding to a case that came to the fore in Feb this year, highlighting that an 82-year-old man from Bhandarkar Road had lost Rs10.75 crore to a digital arrest fraud between Jan 23 and 31. The victim, hailing from North India and settled in Pune about 15 years ago, lost all his savings and fixed deposits (FDs).Later, in another case in May this year, an 87-year-old retired executive lost Rs3.46 crore after fraudsters posing as CBI officers threatened him with arrest in a fake money-laundering case.In a more recent case, a 74-year-old retired teacher and her husband were allegedly cheated of Rs68.8 lakh between July and Sept, after fraudsters impersonated senior police officers and even kept them under a month-long “digital arrest”.Shinde added, “Scams of this variety today typically involve fraudsters impersonating police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), or any other central agency officials. They use fake documents, make video calls and issue threats of arrest. Suspects force the victims, who are senior citizens, to transfer money to mule bank accounts, promising to settle the case against them.”“The fraudsters generally use video call facilities of a messaging app and are seen wearing police uniforms. The background is usually crafted to look like that of a police station or the office of a central agency,” she said.Fraudsters, according to the police, threatened to arrest the senior citizens in cases of money laundering involving a former aviation company owner, child pornography, fake SIM cards used in terror cases, terror funding cases, and threatening or obscene calls, among other ploys.Police have undertaken awareness programmes using the platforms of senior citizens’ organisations and societies, and by circulating pamphlets, have been requesting elderly individuals to simply not answer such calls. If they receive any such calls, they are cautioned not to fall prey to scams.Sandip Gadiya, a cybercrime investigator and cyber forensic expert, said, “Fraudsters execute the entire scam by putting fear into their victims, and then extorting money from them. Police or any other central agencies do not make video calls to people threatening to arrest them. Agencies follow legal procedure.”He emphasised: “Digital arrest is not prescribed in any law. It’s a completely fake ploy.”Gadiya further said, “Fraudsters are operating from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan. They use sourced or fake KYC-obtained SIM cards to cheat people. Also, they upload fake names as police officers or agency names on caller ID services to mislead people.”The investigator explained, “As fraudsters use mule bank accounts, money is quickly transferred from one account to another, and it becomes difficult to trace the money trail. Later, this money is transferred to cryptocurrency exchanges and then further transactions are made, making investigation of these cases difficult. Sometimes, money goes out of the country.”
